Last week, we reported that Satya Nadella was one of the front runners for the top job at the Redmond based company.
And now it is official. Microsoft Corporation have announced that Satya Nadella will take over as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect.
Nadella becomes the third CEO in Microsoft’s history. The other two being, Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer.
46 year old Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India, and has been with Microsoft since 1992. He formerly worked at rival company, Sun Microsystems. He also served as Senior Vice President of R&D for Microsoft’s Online Services Division and Vice President of the company’s Business Division. He was credited with transforming Microsoft’s client-services to cloud infrastructure.
Here is what Nadella said on taking up his new role,
“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. The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.”
And here is Nadella’s first interview as CEO.
He also sent out an email to all employees of Microsoft. You can read it here.
Meanwhile, Bill Gates has stepped down from his position as the Chairman of Board of Directors. He is succeeded by John Thompson, the lead independent director for the Board of Directors. Thompson had also led the search for the new CEO.
Watch a video of what the new Chairman had to say about Satya Nadella.
Gates will take up his new role as Technology Advisor. This is what he had to say about the new CEO,
“During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella. Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth.”
Here is the video where Gates welcomes Nadella as Microsoft’s CEO
And the new Chairman, John Thompson also had words of support for Nadella,
“Satya is clearly the best person to lead Microsoft, and he has the unanimous support of our Board. The Board took the thoughtful approach that our shareholders, customers, partners and employees expected and deserved.”
Nadella’s predecessor Ballmer, also praised him saying,
“Having worked with him for more than 20 years, I know that Satya is the right leader at the right time for Microsoft. I’ve had the distinct privilege of working with the most talented employees and senior leadership team in the industry, and I know their passion and hunger for greatness will only grow stronger under Satya’s leadership.”
Watch Ballmer say goodbye to Microsoft as he says, “I love this Company”.
That’s the best fake speech I have ever seen.
We at Geekiest, are proud to see Indian born, Satya as the head of Microsoft. Our congratulations and best wishes to him and Microsoft.
via Microsoft and The Verge