CEO of MICROSOFT

Satya Narayan Nadella (born August 19, 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the acting chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014. and John W. Thompson as President in 2021. Before becoming CEO, he was executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, responsible for building and operating the company’s computing platform.

EARLY LIFE

Nadella was born on 19 August 1967 in Hyderabad into a Telugu-speaking Hindu family. His mother Prabhavati was a Sanskrit lecturer. His father, Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar, was an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1962 batch. Yugandhar hails from Bukkapuram in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh; His own father had migrated to Bukkapuram from Nadella village in Guntur district (present day Palanadu district) of Andhra Pradesh.

Nadella attended Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet, before obtaining a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, Karnataka in 1988. He then traveled to the United States to pursue MS in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Graduated in 1990. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1997.

MICROSOFT

Satya Nadella, flanked by former CEOs Bill Gates (left) and Steve Ballmer (right), ushered in a transformative era for the tech giant on his inauguration day as Microsoft’s CEO.

During his tenure at Microsoft, Nadella led key initiatives including the company’s transition to cloud computing and the establishment of the world’s most extensive cloud infrastructure.

Nadella initially served as senior vice president of research and development (R&D) for the online services division and later as vice president of the Microsoft business division. Subsequently, he assumed the role of president of Microsoft’s $19 billion server and tools business. In this capacity, Nadella orchestrated a profound shift in the company’s business and technology policies, leading it from client services to cloud infrastructure and services. His contributions included integrating Microsoft’s database, Windows Server, and developer tools into the Azure cloud, resulting in substantial revenue growth from $16.6 billion to $20.3 billion as of June 2013. In recognition of his influence, Nadella received an $84.5 million compensation package in 2016.

In 2013, Nadella’s reported base salary was $669,167, totaling compensation of $7.6 million when factoring in stock bonuses

Nadella has held various key positions including:

  •  President of Server and Tools Division (9 February 2011 – February 2014)
  •  Senior Vice President of Research and Development for Online Services Division (March 2007 – February 2011)
  •  Vice President of Business Division
  •  Corporate Vice President of Business Solutions and Search and Advertising Platform Group
  •  Executive Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise Group

Chief Executive Officer (2014–present)

On 4 February 2014, Nadella was appointed as the new CEO of Microsoft, becoming the third CEO in the company’s history after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

In October 2014, Nadella sparked controversy by suggesting that women should not ask for a raise and trust the system at an event on Women in Computing. He later apologized on Twitter and sent an email to Microsoft employees acknowledging his mistake.

Nadella’s leadership at Microsoft has been characterized by collaborations with companies and technologies in competition with Microsoft, such as Apple Inc., Salesforce, IBM, and Dropbox. In a departure from previous campaigns against the Linux operating system, Nadella declared that “Microsoft ❤️ Linux” and the company became a platinum member of the Linux Foundation in 2016.

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Chief Executive Officer (2014–present)

Under Nadella’s guidance, Microsoft redefined its mission statement to “empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.” He drove cultural change at Microsoft, emphasizing empathy, collaboration and a ‘growth mindset’, fostering a corporate culture centered around continuous learning and growth.

In 2014, Nadella’s first acquisition for Microsoft was Mojang, the Swedish game company known for Minecraft, which it acquired for $2.5 billion. Subsequent acquisitions included Xamarin for an undisclosed amount, LinkedIn’s purchase of $26.2 billion in 2016, and GitHub’s acquisition of US$7.5 billion on October 26, 2018.

As of November 2023, Microsoft’s stock has risen nearly tenfold since Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, boasting a 27% annual growth rate and ending a 14-year period of stagnant growth.

Satya Nadella with Anupama

 

Beyond his professional life, Nadella is an avid reader of American and Indian poetry and has a keen interest in cricket. He played in his school team and credits cricket for honing his leadership skills.

Apart from his personal activities, Nadella, along withIn 1992, Satya Nadella married Anupama, the daughter of his father’s IAS batchmate. Both of them are the only children in their respective families. Anupama was studying B.Arch in the Faculty of Architecture in Manipal and was Nadella’s junior. The couple lives in Clyde Hill and Bellevue, Washington and are the proud parents of three children – a son and two daughters. Sadly, their son Jain, who was legally blind quadriplegic and battled cerebral palsy, died in February 2022 at the age of 26. Nadella considers becoming the father of a child with special needs as the most important moment of his life.

 

his wife Anupama, is part of the group that owns Seattle Sounders FC, a Major League Soccer club.

Nadella is also an author and has written a book titled “Hit Refresh”, which examines his life, Microsoft career and his perspective on how technology will shape the future. Specifically, he has pledged to donate the book’s profits to Microsoft Philanthropy, supporting various non-profit organizations.

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