Microsoft Corporation on Wednesday appointed Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella as its new chairman, in the place of John Thompson. Nadella took over as CEO in 2014 from Steve Ballmer and has been involved in increasing its business including billion-dollar acquisitions like LinkedIn, Nuance Communications, and ZeniMax. Microsoft said John Thompson will now serve as a lead independent director.

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The top-level executive change comes just after Bill Gates stepped down from the board, saying he would focus on charitable works of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is one of the world’s biggest charities.
The company had last month said it conducted a probe into Gates involvement with an employee almost 20 years ago after it was told in 2019 that he had tried to start a romantic relationship with the person. Microsoft had declined to comment on whether its board had decided Gates should go. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of 56 cents per share payable on September 9.