By Philip Joseph
Microsoft is a company that has seen only two people take charge of the top executive office in the 38 years of its existence. The first being co-founder Bill Gates, who helped build this company from scratch to the most powerful company in the world at the break of the new millennium. The market value, at this point, was a jaw dropping $558 billion. Gates formally stepped down and gave way to fellow Harvard-man Steve Ballmer, his successor, in January 2000. There are a lot of speculated reasons for him leaving and one being the fact that he was growing tired of the government wanting to break the company up as a result of an antitrust trial. Gates officially says he stepped down to play a more active role in the tech division and focus more on his philanthropic ventures along with his wife Melinda.
Steve Ballmer took the mantle at a critical time for Microsoft and helped them move through a series of legal battles. Though an efficient and effective manager of the giant, strategy and game play never seemed to be his forte. Through the years, Microsoft saw a series of disappointments and flaws in strategy. He never anticipated the rise of music players like the iPod, nor did he realise Google would monopolize internet search. He watched the decline of Internet Explorer's user base from above 80% in 2002 to below 10% in 2013. The only thing that Microsoft did get right, while under Ballmer, was probably the X-Box and the Windows Phone 8 OS . Change is inevitable and considering how Microsoft was doing, Ballmer stepping down and letting some young blood take the mantle is a good sign and significant self realisation for an aging company. The most obvious successor for this post, like every source now mentions, is long time Microsoft employee Satya Nadella.
Hyderabad born, Satya Nadella, earned his Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Manipal University and presumably wasn't a nerd like half the IITian executive population in the US. He did his MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin and yet again, surprisingly, not at an Ivy. He's also an MBA graduate from the University of Chicago. He joined Microsoft in 1992 after a short stint at Sun Microsystems, which was later bought over by Oracle. At Microsoft, he worked as the SVP of R&D for the online services division and vice president of the Microsoft business division. Being immersed in these division, one can be concerned if he will be able to make the company grow to level competition from fast paced companies like Google and Apple. Apart from restructuring the company, R&D has to put on a new face and look at the risks they can take to create products that can compete. Core products that have been in the company's portfolio, since its inception, have to be reinvented to drive the market towards it. Hopefully, if measures go as planned, we will see Microsoft rise with Satya Nadella. On a lighter note, if named CEO, Nadella also proves that you don't need a degree from Harvard Business School or an IIT to get to the top.
Pic 1 : http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00386/122318808_Microsoft_386135c.jpg
Pic 2: http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52b1efb26bb3f75d44b3cc1f/take-a-closer-look-at-satya-nadella-who-could-become-microsofts-next-ceo.jpg
Pic 2: http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/52b1efb26bb3f75d44b3cc1f/take-a-closer-look-at-satya-nadella-who-could-become-microsofts-next-ceo.jpg