Just as several reports had predicted, Satya Nadella is officially the new Microsoft CEO, succeeding Steve Ballmer as the tech giant’s third Chief Executive Officer. Having led several Microsoft divisions including the wealthy Enterprise and Cloud business, Satya Nadella becomes the insider CEO, after several reports of an outsider being considered as the next CEO. Bill Gates also announced that he will leaving the board Chairman position, leaving way for John Thompson to take over that post, which is seen as a move to appease investors of radically lesser influence from the Gates-Ballmer era. While we scour for more publicly available information, here’s an introductory video directly from Microsoft –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8JwNZBJ_wI
Here are a few snippets of his first letter to all Microsoft employees –
I’ve been fortunate to work closely with both Bill and Steve in my different roles at Microsoft, and as I step in as CEO, I’ve asked Bill to devote additional time to the company, focused on technology and products.
I am 46. I’ve been married for 22 years and we have 3 kids. And like anyone else, a lot of what I do and how I think has been shaped by my family and my overall life experiences.
In our early history, our mission was about the PC on every desk and home, a goal we have mostly achieved in the developed world. Today we’re focused on a broader range of devices. While the deal is not yet complete, we will welcome to our family Nokia devices and services and the new mobile capabilities they bring us.
We need to prioritize innovation that is centered on our core value of empowering users and organizations to “do more.” We have picked a set of high-value activities as part of our One Microsoft strategy. And with every service and device launch going forward we need to bring more innovation to bear around these scenarios.
We sometimes underestimate what we each can do to make things happen and overestimate what others need to do to move us forward. We must change this.
You can read the full letter here.
From our article earlier –
Coming back to the new CEO, the Indian-origin Hyderabadi has been working at Microsoft since 1992, a long time veteran. He joined the Redmond company from Sun Microsystems, which is now a part of Oracle. After having worked on various divisions including Bing, Ballmer promoted Nadella to the senior VP of Microsoft’s Enterprise businesses and the Cloud, where he oversaw the explosive growth of products like Azure and Office 365, which have gained a mass following in their respective segments. Nadella is known to be responsible for the big changes in Windows Azure that eventually pitted it directly against upstarts from Amazon and Google, and is now seen as a great alternative to Amazon’s offerings, reportedly.
A company as huge as Microsoft, which is bang in the middle of a tumultuous transition led by Ballmer, if opts for a new guy from the outside, who doesn’t have the necessary know-how, will probably make the tough transition even worse, for decision making. But Satya Nadella, a guy with 22 years of Microsoft experience, a person who has already led many divisions, including the money making Enterprise part, seems like the right person for this job. He is also reportedly the least controversial, with many employees approving of this preliminary decision from the board, as he is well known to rally different Microsoft divisions to work together on several occasions. This will be paramount to Ballmer’s “One Microsoft” strategy. One other reason for his selection might be, yes, Steve Ballmer. He believes that Microsoft’s Consumer technology largely benefits from the work they have done in Enterprise, here’s a video of him on the new CEO announcement –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy8Qhcf_moA
With the new CEO, more product development advice from Bill Gates and the “One Microsoft” strategy, can the Redmond company sustain the continued mobile onslaught from its rivals? Interesting times ahead!
Source Microsoft