Satya Nadella: Microsoft drops Bill Gates as chairman and appoints 46-year-old as CEO

The cricket and poetry-loving 46-year-old has taken the helm of the technology giant

Although it made its name and fortune by creating products and services for the old world dominated by the personal computer, the appointment of the India-born executive is a sign that Microsoft sees cloud, mobile, web and other markets as the future.

Mr Nadella, 46, has worked at Microsoft for 22 years and his job was running its cloud and enterprise division. He has also excelled at mastering the firm’s products and services in unglamorous back-office corporate technology.
“Satya has got the right background to lead the company during this era,” said Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder. “There is a challenge in mobile computing. There is an opportunity in the cloud.”
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Mr Nadella has asked Gates to be his adviser on technology in the new role, and the new CEO will also have the support of a tech industry veteran, John Thompson, who replaces Gates as Microsoft’s chairman. Gates will stay on Microsoft’s board and ironically will now spend more time in his advisory role. He stopped day-to-day work for the firm in 2008 to focus on philanthropy.