February 2014: Nadella named Microsoft CEO
When Microsoft announced that Steve Ballmer would be stepping down as CEO, speculation about who would replace him ran wild. That person ended up being Satya Nadella, who has since turned Microsoft around in a major way, for the better. Ever since Satya Nadella took charge, Microsoft stocks have rocketed sky-high and are the strongest they have ever been.
Satya Nadella has been able to achieve this by refocusing on Microsoft's strengths, rather than chasing markets that it realistically will never be able to catch up in. Satya Nadella put more emphasis on the cloud, Azure, and enterprise-grade software and services, and put many consumer-facing ventures on the back burner. He stopped projects that were unsuccessful, such as Windows Phone, Groove Music, and Microsoft Band, and instead focused on areas in which Microsoft could succeed, like with Microsoft Teams and Office 365.
All of these changes have been a huge positive for Microsoft. Stockholders can't get enough of Microsoft right now, and that's mostly thanks to the changes Satya Nadella brought in when he became CEO. Focusing more on the enterprise and less on consumers has proven to be nothing but successful for the company, which means this trend is likely to continue for years to come. Satya Nadella has also improved Microsoft's reputation in several key areas, including the open-source community, Linux community, and embracing competitor platforms such as iOS and Android.
