Bill Gates Steps Down As Microsoft Boss , As Satya Nadella Steps In

                         Gates Nadella

In his first appearance as CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella made it clear that his top priority is getting the company innovating again. He took over from Bill Gates as CEO.


“The first thing I want to do … is to ruthlessly remove any obstacles that allow us to innovate,” he said in a YouTube video posted by the company after Tuesday’s announcement broke.
His choice of words there is important, particularly the word "ruthlessly." Some Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the company to choose an outsider, someone who could come in and make the cuts they believe are necessary to get Microsoft’s stock price moving in an upward direction.
Last fall, shareholders expressed concerns that co-founder Bill Gates was wielding too much power inside Microsoft and that he needed to step down as chairman.
Microsoft announced Tuesday that Gates will step down, but will retain his board seat and spend about one-third of his time working with Microsoft’s product development teams.
That has many people wondering if Gates – and former CEO Steve Ballmer, who will also remain on the board – will have too much of an influence on the company’s new CEO
Nadella comes from a highly technical background, but is also a businessman who can speak eloquently about the business of technology. That’s something shareholders are likely to appreciate.
That said, the company’s stock price opened high Tuesday on the announcement, but then fell off as the morning progressed. The stock price did spike last week, though, when news of Nadella’s appointment leaked.
One factor in the rising share price may be the expanded role Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood will be taking as a result of Nadella’s appointment.