Satya Nadella has led a major transformation at Microsoft Inc. (MSFT) just three years after being named its CEO.
Microsoft, by many accounts, was in dire shape before Nadella took over in 2014. Windows 8 had debuted with poor reception, it was struggling to navigate the smartphone revolution and Zune, the company's iPod lookalike, was considered one of the worst product flops in tech history. There was no doubt that Microsoft had maintained a longstanding legacy in Silicon Valley, but many agreed that it needed a new strategy to compete against its more nimble counterparts like Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) .
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Nadella, the third CEO in Microsoft's 42-year-long history, is largely credited as carrying the company successfully into the 21st century. Before he became chief executive, Nadella served as executive vice president of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise group, which speaks to many of the strategic moves made throughout his tenure so far.
Under Nadella's leadership, Microsoft has embarked on a major transition toward becoming a cloud computing giant through its Azure platform. Microsoft's move to the cloud has led to reorganizations inside the company, the latest of which led to job cuts in the company's global marketing and sales team. The layoffs are said to have affected thousands of employees.
Nadella has organized two other rounds of layoffs -- one being the largest in Microsoft's history -- during his tenure, but employees still seem fairly happy with the CEO.
Wall Street has been applauding Nadella, too. Shares of Microsoft have nearly doubled since he became CEO. Most of Microsoft's biggest bulls are betting on the fact that the company is a strong growth story build on continued success in the cloud, all under Nadella's leadership.
Here are some of the biggest moves Nadella has made at Microsoft so far:
1. Microsoft's monster $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn
Two years into Nadella's term, Microsoft scooped up social networking site LinkedIn -- the largest acquisition in the company's deal history. Unlike Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia, which resulted in a costly write-down of $7.9 billion, the LinkedIn deal has helped build out Microsoft's portfolio of services, as well as lent a hand in connecting the company with new movers and shakers in Silicon Valley.
