Microsoft has named Satya Nadella, an executive in charge of the company's small, but growing business of delivering software and services over the Internet, as its new CEO. Company founder Bill Gates is leaving the chairman role for a new role as technology adviser.
The software company announced on Tuesday that Nadella will replace Steve Ballmer, who said in August that he would leave the company within 12 months. Nadella will become only the third leader in the software giant's 38-year history, after Gates and Ballmer. Board member John Thompson will serve as Microsoft's new chairman.
Nadella, who is 46 and has worked at Microsoft for 22 years, has been an executive in some of the company's fastest-growing and most-profitable businesses, including its Office and server and tools business.
For the past seven months, he was the executive vice president who led Microsoft's cloud computing offerings. That's a new area for Microsoft, which has traditionally focused on software installed on personal computers rather than on remote servers connected to the Internet. Nadella's group has been growing strongly, although it remains a small part of Microsoft's current business.
