Why it matters: Microsoft's lath has appointed CEO Satya Nadella to the role of board chair. In his new role, Nadella will atomic number 82 efforts to set the agenda for the lath. The move is significant as it marks the first fourth dimension that the same person has held the position of primary executive and board chair since co-founder Pecker Gates stepped downwardly as CEO in January 2000.

Nadella volition replace John W. Thompson, who in one case served every bit main executive of Symantec. Thompson joined Microsoft's board in 2022 and was appointed to chair on February four, 2022, the same mean solar day that Nadella moved upwardly to supplant Steve Ballmer every bit Microsoft CEO.

Microsoft has flourished under Nadella'south watch. When he took over, the company's stock was trading around the $35 range. Today, a single share of Microsoft stock is worth more than $258, an increment of more than than 630 percentage.

Amongst other duties, Nadella has overseen efforts to expand the company through major acquisitions including LinkedIn, ZeniMax and GitHub. He was likewise in accuse when Microsoft bought Minecraft creator Mojang for $two.5 billion.

Thompson, meanwhile, is sticking around as lead independent director, the same role he previously held from 2022 to 2022.

Microsoft also used the presser to denote a quarterly dividend of $0.56 per share, payable on September ix to shareholders of record on August 19.

Paradigm credit Emagnetic