Indian becomes CEO of Microsoft!
Microsoft has named Satya Nadella as its new CEO. Nadella will be replacing the current CEO Steve Ballmer who announced his retirement in August 2013. Microsoft also announced that the company's founder Bill Gates will step down as chairman of the company's board. But Gates will be working closely with Nadella in a new technology adviser role.
Gates will be replaced by current Microsoft board member and former Symantec CEO John Thompson as new chairman of Microsoft. It should be noted that, Gates and Ballmer will remain on the company's board.
Nadella is a 22-year veteran of Microsoft who has been overseeing various aspects of the company's corporate software business since 1992. Prior to joining Microsoft, Nadella worked at Sun Microsystems, which is now owned by Oracle.
At present Nadella is Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group chief and it should be noted that the company's famed consumer business including Windows is struggling, while, corporate revenue now makes up two-thirds of Microsoft's overall sales and is instrumental in driving Microsoft's growth.
Over the past several years, Nadella's cloud and enterprise division has been one of Microsoft's best-performing units.Nadella was Microsoft's second-highest paid executive last year, earning $7.7 million in salary, bonuses and stock grants. Only chief operating officer Kevin Turner made more.
Nadella acknowledged that a main part of his job as CEO will be to speed up the process of bringing innovative products to customers. Microsoft has struggled to adapt to the mobile revolution, as Apple and Google have dominated that market. One of his key tasks will be to find a way to integrate the mobile device business of Nokia, which Microsoft agreed to buy last year.
"I couldn't be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company," Nadella said in a statement. "The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform."
Nadella was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India in a Telugu family to an IAS officer, B. N. Yugandhar, hailing from Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Satya attended the Hyderabad Public School in Begumpet before attaining a bachelor of engineering in electronics and communication degree from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Karnataka.
After moving to the US, Nadella earned an MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.