Meet Satya Nadella, the new Microsoft CEO

Microsoft has unveiled Satya Nadella as the third CEO of the 39-year-old company, with the company's board of directors deciding that his tenure as the big boss is effective immediately. Bye Steve!

Nadella, 46, had been tipped as a shoo-in for the job in recent days, and now takes the reign of the company after spending 22 years in its employment. He's been promoted from his former role as executive vice president of its Cloud and Enterprise division, which as far as job titles go sounds quite a bit drier than CEO.

In announcing Nadella's new job, Microsoft specifically points to his work in establishing the cloud infrastructure behind Xbox, alongside Bing and Office. In accepting the role, Nadella says a big part of sitting in his new office is to work out ways that Microsoft can speed up the ways it can release innovative new products to customers.

“Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn’t be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company,” said Nadella in a statement. “The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster, and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.”

Alongside Nadella, Microsoft has also announced that Bill Gates will say goodbye to being Chairman of the Board and hello to the position of Founder and Technology Advisor. In his new role, Gates will spend more time working for Microsoft and will assist in the future direction of its products. I wonder what Gates and Nadella make of the Xbox One?

Former CEO Steve Ballmer announced that he'd be stepping down in August last year, with his retirement due within 12 months. A month before his announcement, Ballmer conducted a massive shake-up of Microsoft as part of his "One Microsoft" vision, with the hope of enabling the company to operate at "greater speed, efficiency, and capability in a fast changing world."