Satya Nadella’s first task as CEO: to launch Microsoft 2.0 as a stronger force in mobile.
The tech giant on Tuesday crowned the 46-year-old engineer its new chief executive — only the third person to lead the Redmond, Wash., company since it was founded by Bill Gates in 1975.
Nadella replaces Steve Ballmer, a college pal of Gates who took over as CEO in 2000, after Gates stepped down that year to focus more on his 20-year-old foundation.
At the top of Nadella’s to-do list should be to focus Microsoft’s massive energy on getting bigger in smartphones and tablets.
When the world moved to PCs, Microsoft was there to profit. But as the world now migrates to portable devices, the company is being left behind.
“Microsoft needs to be a bigger player in mobile,” Daniel Ives, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, said. “That is at the epicenter of what he needs to accomplish.”
Nadella may not have much time to get things moving.
Under Ballmer, Microsoft shares from January 2000 through Tuesday fell 35 percent — compared with a 1 percent drop in the Nasdaq.
Over the same span, Apple shares soared 1,879 percent.
Nadella’s other priorities as CEO, according to Wall Street, are:
GET popular Microsoft Office products like Excel and Word on Apple and Android devices;
MAKE people care about Windows again;
RETAIN Microsoft’s dominant grip on corporate computing.
As it builds its mobile strategy, Microsoft needs to retain its grip on its popular productivity software, like Microsoft Word, by allowing people access from popular iOS and Android devices, experts said.
The company also needs to launch a version of its famous Windows software that will make folks line up like they did back in 1995, experts said.
But Nadella also needs to keep one eye clearly focused on Microsoft’s profitable enterprise business, including data storage and cloud computing, said Kirk Materne of Evercore Partners.
“Priority No. 1 is to maintain the momentum in the commercial business,” Materne said. “Do that, and the earnings will keep looking solid.”
Gates, who stepped down as chairman to become the company’s technology adviser, said he plans to spend more time with Microsoft in his new role.
Gates said he will be “supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction.”
Nadella, too, hinted at plans for change.
“Our industry does not respect tradition — it only respects innovation,” he said.
The new boss said in his first letter as CEO: “Our job is to ensure that Microsoft thrives in a mobile and cloud-first world.”
Nadella, who joined Microsoft in 1994, was most recently the head of the company’s successful cloud-computing business, and he’s being called upon to bring that same golden touch to the rest of the company.