Microsoft names Satya Nadella as chairman

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday named Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella as its new chairman, in place of John Thompson.

Nadella, who took over as CEO in 2014 from Steve Ballmer, has been instrumental in scaling up its business including billion-dollar acquisitions like LinkedIn, Nuance Communications, and ZeniMax.

The company said Thompson, who took over as chairman of the software giant’s co-founder Bill Gates in 2014, will serve as a lead independent director.

The recent change comes after Bill Gates officially left the Microsoft board entirely in 2020.