Bill Gates Is Stepping Down From the Microsoft Board

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is stepping down from the Microsoft board. Microsoft announced the change to its board of directors this evening, with Gates leaving the board to focus more on his philanthropic work.

Gates is also stepping down from the board of Berkshire Hathaway. He is not, however, completely leaving Microsoft. Gates will continue to serve as a Technology Advisor to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

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Gates wants to dedicate more time into his philanthropic work as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The move comes as no surprise — Gates has slowly been moving away from Microsoft since he started building the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation back in 2008. Gates served as the chairman of the Microsoft board till 2014 as well.

“It’s been a tremendous honor and privilege to have worked with and learned from Bill over the years. Bill founded our company with a belief in the democratizing force of software and a passion to solve society’s most pressing challenges. And Microsoft and the world are better for it,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

“I am grateful for Bill’s friendship and look forward to continuing to work alongside him to realize our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,” he added.

Microsoft’s board now includes 12 members with the departure of Bill Gates. The new board consists of John W. Thompson, Microsoft independent chair; Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners; Hugh Johnston, vice chairman and chief financial officer of PepsiCo; Teri L. List-Stoll, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Gap, Inc.; Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft; Sandra E. Peterson, operating partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice; Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman, PSP Partners; Charles W. Scharf, chief executive officer and president of Wells Fargo & Co.; Arne Sorenson, president and CEO, Marriott International Inc.; John W. Stanton, chairman of Trilogy Equity Partners; Emma Walmsley, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK); and Padmasree Warrior, founder, CEO and president, Fable Group Inc.

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Conversation 5 comments

  • jules_wombat

    14 March, 2020 - 7:57 am

    <p>I like Bill.</p><p>Microsoft needs to strategy vision, perhaps it is simply Enterprise Cloud services. I just feel that Bill would have been clearer in helping Satya express a clear business direction for Microsoft.</p><p>I guess Bill has more important things to concentrate his own thoughts now. </p>

  • nbplopes

    14 March, 2020 - 8:21 am

    <p>This will be good for Microsoft. Windows did it’s role and it’s evolving. Time for a broader vision because it’s not about Windows. The later it’s just one frame of work, one product. But what a great one.</p>

    • oscar1

      15 March, 2020 - 9:44 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#530993">In reply to nbplopes:</a></em></blockquote><p>Windows has nothing to do with it. My bet is that it was Bill that pushed for cloud first through Nadella. </p>

  • shameermulji

    14 March, 2020 - 3:41 pm

    <blockquote><em><a href="#531057">In reply to red77star:</a></em></blockquote><p>This single division if one of the biggest, if not the biggest reason, for MS' turnaround. What exactly is wrong with it?</p>

  • Greg Green

    18 March, 2020 - 3:04 pm

    <p>Gates should stay on as UI advisor. Then there’d be hope.</p>

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