ANKARA

Technology giant Microsoft says Satya Nadella, 46, will succeed Steve Ballmer as the company`s next chief executive.

India-born Nadella has spent 22 years at Microsoft and was the executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company’s computing platforms, developer tools and cloud service.

Nadella had been chosen from more than 100 possible candidates identified by a Microsoft search committee.

Microsoft also announced that its founder Bill Gates will take up a new role as a technology adviser.

Nadella is only the third person to take Microsoft’s CEO role in 39 years. Its first CEO was Bill Gates who managed the company between 1975 and 2000. Steve Ballmer filled the role between January 2000 and January 2014.

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