Satya Nadella is now managing director and chairman of the board at the same time
Runs for Satya Nadella. (Photo: Microsoft)
Microsoft unanimously appointed CEO Satya Nadella as chairman of the board on Wednesday. For the first time in two decades, the chairman of the board is also the managing director.
Microsoft shares have risen more than 600 percent since Satya Nadella took over the post of CEO in 2014. This means that the company is ranked second behind Apple among the most valuable companies in the world. Nadella was previously responsible for the company’s cloud and enterprise activities.
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Chairman of the board as a clear vote of confidence in Nadella
His appointment as chairman represents a demonstration of confidence in Nadella’s leadership skills within the company, especially given the “unprecedented impact Covid-19 has had on our business and our employees,” Microsoft said in a statement. In the German equivalent, the term “ chairman ” corresponds most closely to a mixture of the chairman of the board of directors and the chairman of the supervisory board.
Microsoft only sees advantages in the personal union. Thanks to his “deep understanding of the business”, Nadella can identify “the right strategic opportunities”, but also “key risks and approaches to risk reduction for review by the board of directors”. In this way, the agenda of the board’s work is prepared in a qualified manner.
The previous chairman will retain administrative powers
Nadella will replace John Thompson as chairman. He took over the position from Bill Gates in 2014 when he decided to become a “technology consultant”. According to Microsoft, Thompson will retain “significant powers”. He is to organize the agendas of the Board of Directors, the calling of the meetings and the setting of the agendas. In addition, he is to lead the regular performance reviews of the managing director.
Gates has not been a member of the board since last year. He had resigned following an internal investigation. It had been concerned with whether Gates had a romantic relationship with a subordinate at Microsoft.
