Steve Ballmer became CEO of Microsoft after Bill Gates stepped down in 2000. Ballmer had been with Microsoft since 1980 and was a close confidant of Gates. He served as CEO for 14 years, during which time the company continued to grow and expand its reach.
In 2014, Ballmer stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by Satya Nadella, who had been with Microsoft since 1992. Nadella has been credited with transforming Microsoft into a cloud-computing powerhouse, focusing on services like Azure and Office 365.
