Howzat?

The new CEO of Microsoft is Satya Nadella, former chief of the company's cloud and enterprise group.

Coinciding with the announcement is the news that Bill Gates' role at the company has changed from chairman to "founder and technology advisor". Gates remains on the Board of Directors, and, according to Microsoft, will devote more time to the company. John Thompson, lead independent director for the Board, is the new chairman.

Gates, who co-founded the company in 1975, gave Nadella his blessing in a prepared statement.

"During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella," he said.

"Satya is a proven leader with hard-core 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."

Nadella is a 22-year Microsoft veteran who spearheaded its cloud services, the work of one of the company's better performing divisions in recent times. Microsoft's cloud service powers Bing and Xbox Live, among other things. Nadella was born in India in 1967. His hobbies include cricket and poetry.

"Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionised the world through technology, and I couldn't be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company," Nadella said.

"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."

Nadella replaces Steve Ballmer, who announced his intention to retire in August 2013. He takes the top job just a couple of months after the launch of the Xbox One console.