On Wednesday, Microsoft Corp. has named Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella as its new chairman.
Microsoft in its statement released on Wednesday said, Staya, 53-year-old, would succeed John Thompson. John would return to the position of “Lead Independent Director”, he held this position before being chairman in 2014.
Satya held the position of chairman at the world’s largest software maker after more than seven years as the top executive.
Nadella was appointed as the CEO in 2014 followed by Steve Ballmer. Nadella scaled up the business by including billion-dollar acquisitions like LinkedIn, Nuance Communication, and ZeniMax.
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It is believed that Microsoft has undergone rebirth during Nadella’s leadership. Under Nadella’s leadership, the company has recovered from the failure in the mobile phone industry and internet search market. Nadella has made the company refocus around cloud computing, mobile applications and artificial intelligence.
Under CEO Satya Nadella, the company’s shares have soared and its market value has reached $2 trillion and Microsoft has restored the top ranks in the list of technology companies.
Nadella was the company’s third CEO and would be the third chairman in Microsoft’s history, after Bill Gates and John Thompson.
This top-level executive change came just over a year after Mr Gates stepped down from the board. At that time Bill Gates stepped down saying that he would focus on philanthropic works the world’s biggest charities – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.