Satya Nadella, born in Hyderabad (India) in 1967, is the current CEO of Microsoft. He succeeded Steve Ballmer in 2014, who had held the position since the company’s creator, Bill Gates, left.
Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as head of Microsoft, the company founded by Bill Gates, in 2014.
Graduated in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manipal (India), he later continued his studies in the United States, where he moved with his family. There he completed master’s degrees in Computer Science (University of Wisconsin) and in Business Administration and Management (University of Chicago).
He is married, has three children and his passions are poetry and cricket, a sport he has practiced since his youth. He is author of the book «Hit Refresh» («Press the reload button») in which he narrates his personal life, his professional career and presents his vision about how technology will help shape the future.
Satya Nadella’s career path
Nadella’s first job after completing his studies was at Sun Microsystems. She also went through Oracle, although for a brief period, and in 1992 she began working for Microsoft. His first performance was as vice president of the Business Division and vice president of Research and Development (R&D) of the Online Services Division. Shortly thereafter he would become president of the Servers and Tools Division.
Over time it came to be named Microsoft vice president, CWhen Steve Ballmer stepped down as CEO in 2014, it seemed natural that the succession would fall to Nadella.
Satya Nadella’s ‘collaborative competition’
One of the hallmarks of Satya Nadella’s leadership at Microsoft has to do with what could be called collaborative competition. This is a strategy in which Microsoft has begun to collaborate with technology companies with which it maintains competition in some areas.
This has strengthened the relationship with Apple so that Office applications work in the most appropriate way in this brand’s environments (iOS and macOS). The company also collaborates with IBM and Salesforce to improve the Cloud services offered by both. Even with Linux, so that this operating system can be used on Azure Cloud servers.
Buying other companies usually shows a company’s philosophy. Throughout Nadella’s mandate, some of the acquisitions made by Microsoft have been LinkedIn (social network focused on employment), GitHub (repository that hosts source code for countless programs), Simplygon (3D modeling), AltspaceVR (virtual reality) or SwiftKey (virtual keyboard for use on iOS and Android).
In the field of video games, Microsoft (which has its own console, Xbox, and online platform, Game Pass) has acquired Mojang (creator of the popular “Minecraft”), Playground Games («Forza Motorsports») and Bethesda (“The Elder Scrolls”), thus reinforcing its commitment to domestic leisure.
