Which CEO of Microsoft replaced Steve Ballmer in 2014?

Satya Nadella became Microsoft’s CEO after replacing Steve Ballmer in 2014.

Microsoft appointed Nadella CEO on February 4, 2014, making him only the company’s third chief executive after co-founder Bill Gates and Ballmer. Before the appointment, Nadella was Microsoft’s executive vice president for its Cloud and Enterprise group, where he helped guide the company’s growing cloud-computing business.

His promotion marked a major transition for Microsoft. Nadella emphasized cloud services, cross-platform software, subscriptions, and a more collaborative corporate culture. Under his leadership, products and services such as Azure and Microsoft 365 became increasingly central to the company’s strategy.

A common mix-up is assuming Bill Gates was the immediate predecessor because he founded Microsoft and remained a prominent adviser and board figure. Gates preceded Ballmer, not Nadella directly. Another possible confusion is Sundar Pichai, who became Google’s CEO in 2015 and Alphabet’s CEO in 2019.