Microsoft officially names Satya Nadella CEO, Bill Gates steps down as chairman
Veteran Microsoft executive Satya Nadella will immediately replace retiring CEO Steve Ballmer while company founder Bill Gates will relinquish his position as chairman to take on a more active, product-focused role, the company announced on Tuesday.
The move comes less than six months after Ballmer, Gates's hand-picked successor, announced his intention to retire. Nadella had been tabbed as a favorite by insiders from the start, and his candidacy gained steam among Microsoft watchers after Ford CEO Alan Mulally withdrew his name from consideration.
"During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella," Gates said in a statement. "Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together," he added.
Prior to his election as CEO, Nadella led Microsoft's enterprise and cloud computing group where he was responsible for, among other things, the infrastructure that underpins Microsoft's Xbox Live and Bing services. Born in India, Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992.
"Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn't be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company," Nadella said, adding that "a big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly."
Gates will remain on the board, but pass the chairman's gavel to Virtual Instruments CEO John Thompson. Gates will be tasked with "supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction," the company said.
The move comes less than six months after Ballmer, Gates's hand-picked successor, announced his intention to retire. Nadella had been tabbed as a favorite by insiders from the start, and his candidacy gained steam among Microsoft watchers after Ford CEO Alan Mulally withdrew his name from consideration.
"During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella," Gates said in a statement. "Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together," he added.
Prior to his election as CEO, Nadella led Microsoft's enterprise and cloud computing group where he was responsible for, among other things, the infrastructure that underpins Microsoft's Xbox Live and Bing services. Born in India, Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992.
"Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn't be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company," Nadella said, adding that "a big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly."
Gates will remain on the board, but pass the chairman's gavel to Virtual Instruments CEO John Thompson. Gates will be tasked with "supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction," the company said.
Comments
He seems like a very focused, forward-thinking guy. I hope he does well with Microsoft
First decision to take : sell Nokia's mobile activity, or fire 20 000 people.
But this is not a problem : in both cases Stock exchange will be delighted !
A bald for a bald, a tooth for a tooth.
It’s up a whole thirteen cents!
Can't say anything on the new CEO as I know nothing about him. But this closing line, 'Gates shaping tech' erhm, fail, I say. He did have a very good view of the future back in the day: "to have a PC on every desk". But getting there is a whole different matter, a despicable one.
Interesting that Ballmer gets to be on the Board...
That and every other 'idea' Gates had was Steve's of course.
Interesting that Ballmer gets to be on the Board...
You mean Gates?
You mean Gates?
No. The linked press release mentions (but doesn't not emphasize) that Ballmer retains his seat on the Board. He, Gates, and the new CEO are the 3 internal board members. I wonder how long retired CEO Ballmer will stay on the board. My guess would be a year before the new CEO can swap some other senior employee.
imo anyone other than Ballmer is good. Lets hope Microsoft can gain market shares in mobile to keep that market more fragmented.
Seems like business as usual, then. A company man that learned from Gates and Ballmer.
Great news . . .
for the competition.
Steve (Ballmer) would never have approved of this if he were still alive!
I would love if he focussed on the only thing that Microsoft can do better than everybody else. It isn't services, it isn't devices: It's software.
Make Android and iOS better bey creating awesome software for it, I'm sure that some of the best minds in the field at redmond are dying to do it.
Currently Apple makes 2 better OSes than Microsoft, better services, better pro apps, a better mobile office suite, better browser, better web stores. Microsoft is as useful to me as a big pile of... rocks. I'm sure someone could build a great palace with those rocks.
So they chose the safe path and awarded an insider the job. Nothing will change. At least with an outsider, they have no political connections within the organization beyond the board of directors and can make the radical moves a flailing, stagnant company might need in order to right their course.
An outsider from CEO to run a company like Microsoft? What? Who the hell would aprove such thing, unless we are talking about geniuses like Musk?
You may wish to read more that just AI for news. ;-)
Gates will step in to take Microsoft back to the top - he will do it by using the same visionary goal oriented strategy he used the first time: copying Apple with a ruthless and unwavering tenacity. He probably can't believe Ballmer wasn't doing it the whole time.
That was an "easy" thing to do, Apple was being run by incompetent fools during MS rising, and even when Steve was there, he was a maniac.
Now, with guys like Cook, Ive, Phil, Craig and others, +160 billion in the bank, +13B$ net profit each christmas quarter, not to mention the powerful ecosystem. I would love to see them try it, again.
It is inconceivable that Nadella will have any power over what Gates does. It is equally inconceivable that Gates will not have power over what Nadella does.
Can anybody really believe that if Gates says "X" Nadella will be able to say "Y"?
The way companies are turned around is that a new person comes in, sweeps out most of the old cruft, and installs their own leadership team. Lots of examples of that. What Microsoft has done is promote up the old baggage and bring back a big pile of even older baggage.
Talk about coffin nails...