46 year-old Indian and head of Microsoft’s cloud computing division and enterprise business, Satya Nadella has been appointed CEO as Bill Gates steps down as Chairman of the US-based giant computer company. Nadella who joined the company in 1992 becomes the third CEO after Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer since the company was founded 39 years ago.

A statement by Bill Gates reads thus, “During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella. Satya is a proven leader with hardcore engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth.”

Meanwhile Bill Gates who was CEO after 25 years will devote more time to product development, while remaining on the board& running his philanthropic foundation. “I’m thrilled that Satya has asked me to step up, substantially increasing the time that I spend at the company. I’ll have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups, and it’ll be fun to define this next round of products working together.” Gates added.