Satya Nadella elevated as Microsoft chairman

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2021-06-18 22:00:04

BENGALURU: Satya Nadella has been elevated as chairman of Microsoft, a recognition of how dramatically he has transformed the world’s largest software maker as chief executive over the past seven years. He will continue to also hold the CEO position. This makes it the first time since 2000, when co-founder Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, that the same person is holding both positions, demonstrating the company’s confidence in Nadella’s ability to take it into the future.

In February 2014, when Nadella was appointed CEO, Microsoft’s flagship Windows business was weakening, and the company was struggling with its failures in the mobile phone and internet search markets. Nadella, who grew up in Hyderabad and joined Microsoft in the US in 1992, refocused the company around cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and instilled a greater sense of ownership among employees — moves that paid off handsomely. The company’s share price has risen nearly 600% since 2014. And since the fourth quarter of 2018, Microsoft has frequently been the most valued publicly listed company in the world, with Apple the only other contender for that spot.

On Nadella’s appointment as chairman, Microsoft said in a statement, “In this role, Nadella will lead the work to set the agenda for the board leveraging his deep understanding of the business to elevate the right strategic opportunities and identify key risks and mitigation approaches for the board’s review.”