Watch Satya Nadella address Microsoft employees for the first time as CEO

You could say today was a pretty big day for Microsoft. The company announced their third CEO today, Satya Nadella. It was big news and to celebrate. To celebrate, former CEO’s Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer took the stage to welcome Satya on Microsoft’s campus. It took place in Studio D at Microsoft and had hundreds of employees cramming the atrium to catch a glimpse of history. Below are some highlights of the event shared by Microsoft.

Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and John Thompson, new chairman of the board, took the stage to welcome and introduce Satya. You can check the little clips in the videos above to see Gates and Thompson introduce and talk about Nadella. Below is a clip from the first time Nadella addresses employees as CEO.

As you can image it was a very big day for Satya Nadella. Here’s what he said also said to those in attendance:

“I am honored, humbled and excited – three words that describe what I feel. You and Steve have built an amazing company. The technology this company produces has changed the world.”

It’s a new chapter in Microsoft’s story. Not only are they currently repositioning themselves as a devices and services company, but they now have a new CEO at the helm to guide them into that future.

Good luck to Nadella!

Source: TechNet (opens in new tab)

Sam Sabri
94 Comments
  • Lot's of Nokia phones in those pics and vids...nice.
  • A picture couldn't be more Microsoft than that one. 
  • It could be if there were Surface RT tablets held up like certain trend using certain pads and notes these days.
  • actually one theirs a young lady to the right holding a Surface towards her chest.
  • Thankfully it seems Windows users are smarter than iPad users and use their phones and not tablets.
  • Lol!
  • iPad user here...i still laughed...nice!
  • Thats just what I was thinking. All three CEO's and all those windows phones!
  • It's a beautiful sight.
  • It was beautiful. It was a moment of pride for me and I had a huge smile across my face the entire time all of them were speaking. I especially loved comments BillG made about how many Windows Phones were present. Very inspiring. So proud to work for such a great company.
  • Ahh! So that was you with big teeth in background? :P
  • :) I wish I was there in person, I watched via the webcast.
  • You should be proud! As a satisfied customer and consumer of MSFT products I'd like to offer you and your coworkers my thanks for enhancing my "digital life." Congrats to Mr. Nadella and may you all enjoy continued success going forward.
  • Agree. A sight we want to see more. As in public places 'n such.
  • 3 Lumia 1020's :D
  • I actually was there, they handed out dummy lumias for the crowd to hold during pic.
    :troll
  • lmao
  • Agreed. I'm impressed.
  • Looks great! I wish I hadn't missed the webcast. Is there a full recap of it anywhere online?
  • I would love a full recap video! Does one exist? Where is it?
  • Im looking for the full video as well.. The ms channel on ut only has a few short clips.
  • I just hope Microsoft will change in a way to be more consumer oriented. Step up the WP game microsoft.
  • Lets see how he will do as businessman
  • He is an Indian, of course he knows business! ;)
  • Technically the "Gujrati" Indians know business.
  • good to see an east indian as a ceo of microsoft.  those tech folks in india must be proud of this.
  • WP certainly looks VERY WELL positioned by Satya repeatedly talking about "Mobile first, Cloud first" generation of technology.
  • Sure does, as it indicates he has placed both on equal priorities. As you really cant have one or the other. People who think all the computation / processing will be done in the cloud that is just silly as without net, your smartphone will just become a dumb terminal. The intense processing will be done in the cloud and pulled down, sort of like what MS has planned for the x1.
  • I'm worried about his "mobile first, cloud first" and what that means, but we'll have to see... I'm worried that he doesn't exactly mean "WP and Onedrive first" but then again, its his first day and he doesn't exactly know what he's doing at this point. We'll have to see...
  • What else can be mobile and cloud?
  • The term "mobile" can mean 1000 different things. It could mean that they're focusing on phones and tablets, OR, what I'm afraid of is that Microsoft might be looking at being more horizontal when it comes to services. They already do it with Skype where the iOS app is better than the WP app, so they may look at making a full-featured Onedrive, Office, etc... on other platforms. Again, I think he'll do great at whatever he decides to do, I just don't know what that'll be.
  • With Bill Gates advising I'm sure the focus will start to come back to utilising their own products. For instance, he cancelled the Courier project because it didn't have an email client; not because this was an obvious omission but because it meant it had no way to tie into Exchange server. Now of course in hindsight we see that this was a bad move, and that Courier was designed to be a creativity device rather than a work device. But hindsight is always 20/20, and it still shows that Bill definitely has a focus on Microsoft products working together.
  • Wait, so just because it lacked an email client? Seems dumb to me, I mean couldn't they build an email client for the Courier instead of cancelling the product all together? There are many concepts ideas in the Courier that I loved when Engadget showed the leaked video but didn't make it to the Surface.
  • Mobile might be the right direction. More and more people are using their mobile phones and tablets for productivity than ever. That's why you see decline in PC. With increase in busy moving lifestyle, PC is not practical. Ms done it right with w8-8.1. Consumers just need to migrate.
  • Consumers don't like to try new things. You have to force them to use it so they can realise how good it is. I'm glad this is exactly what Microsoft did, and it's slowly working.
  • Yeah, the iPod, iPhone and iPad were flops because nobody likes to try new things. /s
  • I think marketing had to do something its popularity.
  • True! Happened at my work place. Once they got use to the new system, they all loved it.
  • But then you have the old coots who are so set in their ways who don't want to change or consider it lol even if it means the change will make their lives easier they take it negatively. Same goes for the blind reviewers, android and iphone diehards who just perpetuate rubbish without even trying wp8 or w8. The funny thing is they bash windows in general so much yet they would rather use windows 7 then the o/s of from their 'beloved' apple / google because they are 'crap'. Bunch of hypocritical baboons lol.
  • Satya says he's gonna focus on cloud and mobile I really hope he puts interest in Windows Phone.
  • MOBILE FIRST! I hope this means good news for WP.
  • Bill, my man!!
  • For some reason the videos are not coming up on my surface pro???  
  • Surface pro or Lenovo ThinkPad 8! I'm torn!
  • Love using the Pro.... Has not let me down..The only negative to me is battery life. The pro will not disappoint you.
  • 499$ pro with all the options vs 8" 425$ with less options. Seems surface pro be the the right choice. How is the weight?
  • Personally, I think the "weight issue" is a little exaggerated. I'm fine with the weight of my SP2. I think once you get used to it, the weight isn't an issue.
  • Lol! Sp2 reminds me of peavey sp2. Anyways, I'll be looking more closely at sp1! After tax refund!
  • Well id say the sp2 if you want the stylus support, thinkpad 8 has none. Also the sp1 is a pretty neat device if you can live with the single angle kick stand :p
  • Oh Sam...it's "JOHN Thompson" not Joel =P   And I guess Thompson just cleared the "name pronounciation" problem. He keeps calling Satya "Sasha"...
  • That was hilarious.
  • John thompson Had me rolling with laughter lol.
  • Ballmer looks line gay!
  • HAHA.....NO!!! -_-
  • Great moment captured forever!
  • The most Windows Phones in one place at the same time...ever. :)
    But it's a pretty cool sight.
  • Being that this CEO isn't American born I hope realizes the urgency of putting an end to this "us only" BS strategy that is getting a lot of people pissed of in "the rest of the world".
  • Exactly.
  • I sure hope so too. Although...he's been at Microsoft for 22 years. He's an American citizen by now. Chances are, he has been fully "Americanized" by now and won't change that. Lets hope that's not happening.
  • i swear the guy behind him is holding a black iphone. not any nokia with camera in the corner
  • The iPhones flash isn't in that location. Its a 920 or a 928 I believe.
  • Black 8X
  • Awww there are two 8x's in the pics. I forgot about those. Awwww
  • Very underrated phone.
  • Very underrated indeed. HTC makes me sad. Love my 8X. Wish they had the same investment that Nokia does.
  • i have both the 8x and the lumia 928...I can actually say that if the 8x had all the Lumia software and camera options, I would prefer the 8x in my hand. Physically imo the 8x is a more apealing and managable phone. The size and shape and button layout makes it the better phone to manage. Not sure why lumia likes to put there power button the side, where i am constantly having to make sure i do not press it when talking on the phone. Also need to be careful of the camera button too. Never an issue on the 8x. Pretty cool to see all thise phones in the picture!!!  
  • The 8x is an amazing device but at the rate their going, i don't see them being around much longer to be honest. They recently lost another patent case against Nokia. Instead of considering a licensing agreement, they retorted back "We are investigating modifications for our handsets to remove this redundant technology",... Such arrogance, do they honestly believe with depth of nokia's patent portfolio they will be able to skirt around the issue? (Given Apple even couldn't and ended up licensing from Nokia lol).
  • I'm very excited to see what MSFT will come up with next. I have high hopes! :)
  • Hope he address terry Myerson how slow his team is.
  • If after wp 8.1 ships and nothing much has changed - (the little things people don't talk about), ill agree with you but right now i disagree :p.
  • Even in just that stort clip of Satya he proves that he has the right idea of where to take Microsoft to succeed. I'm very excited to see what the next few years hold in store.
  • Wondering if he was nominated C.E.O because Microsoft has a lot of Indian employees or that he is capably at the height to be there ? However,he won't last long there,my impressions are that they had to tap a hole temporarily!
  • you are so ignorant... its just incredible.
    next time please just format your harddirve if you are going to talk crap and show your dumb comments to the internet world. do you know what is "President of the Server & Tools"? do you know what that means to Microsoft?
    like "The revenue from Cloud Services grew to $20.3 billion in June 2013 from $16.6 billion when he took over in 2011". you even think its because its Indian lol, please... where did you leave your brain?
    he is capable of doing the job, if you try to research a little people think he is great and he love to take challenges and he has earned alot of respect with his hard work which was NOTHING to do with being indian or not. DO you think they took months of months to get a CEO because they wanted to? no, its because they were finding the best person. well... I dont even know why im explaining these things to someone as dumb as you, your comment your show how ignorant you are and Im really just wasting my time explaining a dumb person why Satya is CEO from Microsoft.
    at least you did a great job, showing WPcentral your dumbness.
  • I think you did the right thing. Internet trolls are everywhere and we need to tackle them. Satya Nadella looks a perfect choice to me. His body language has been since he was announced. He absolutely can carry Microsoft forward. Let's hope so.
  • Are you Indian ? you can get a job in Microsoft ! Apply immediately!!!
  • @Emi - Haha, totally ripped him a new one.
  • ...or maybe, as John Thompson remarked, they "found the right guy for the job, right here at Microsoft". Might that be a possibility?
  • Well some people like Bruno Sain are just too ignorant to look beyond their "bubble", either that or his a troll who has just been forcibly evicted from under the bridge by the three billy goats (Norwegian fairy tale) :p.
  • So excited about this. 2014, the year of Microsoft. I can see it now...;)
  • Goodluck to Satya. Looking forward to awesome innovative products and a smartwatch from Microsoft very soon.  
  • Where is the full video ?
  • So many 920! In red :) good luck Mr. Nadella. I hope you make Microsoft a better company .
  • Satya Nadella, native of krishna district,AP, India, which is also happened to be my native place as well. He made us all proud by becoming the CEO of one of the world's largest companies and my personal favourite MS. Wish him all the luck and looking forward to see him changing the world with MS. :)
  • Same here friend. A proud moment for us. Although I am from Hyderabad
  • Lots of lumias. Lol
  • Good luck, make us proud! 
  • I've got a very good feeling about this. Great things are about to come to us who have remained loyal to the windows and window phone platforms.
  • Oh absolutely. Can't wait for those.
  • At MS' current development rate, you'll have to.
  • Anyone notice how Satya is the only one with an open posture...
  • Yes I did notice that and from what little I've read about him he is that kind of manager. That kind of body language is not easily faked; you and I noticed it and I'm sure his subordinates tasked with moving the company forward will as well. I would imagine the company is energized and excited about his hire and I wish them well.
  • Indeed, it is not i watched the the first interview, the webcast, all the other clips and read what former ms employees / former co workers have said. Also You definitely could feel the excitement and enthusiasm in his voice too. Furthermore he went out his way to tweet, that says alot especially for someone who has last used twitter to tweet 4 years ago in 2010. Ahh this all too good to be true. I was pinching myself all the way to work and home again, as today was a good day at work too lol.
  • Dude is only 46 years of age. He has a lot of time in his hands.
  • He will not last over 2years,it's just a temporarily replacement.