Microsoft’s board of directors has named company insider Satya Nadella as CEO to succeed Steve Ballmer. Nadella is Microsoft’s third CEO in its 39-year history. The software giant also replaced Chairman Bill Gates with John Thompson, the company’s lead independent director. Gates remains on the board and assumes the title of “founder and technology advisor.”
Microsoft released a video late Monday introducing the world to Satya Nadella, a 46-year-old who has been at the company for 22 years and is the man chosen to lead after Steve Ballmer’s exit. “The one thing that I would say that defines me is I love to learn,” Nadella said in his first interview as Microsoft’s chief. (He will be the technology giant’s third CEO ever.) “I get excited about new things. I buy more books than I read or finish.” The appointment of Nadella, a native of Hyderabad, India, makes him the most powerful Indian-born tech executive in the world, according to Reuters. It also ends a months-long search that reportedly included such high-profile executives as Ford CEO Alan Mulally and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.
