Bill Gates is taking on a
bigger role at Microsoft. Though he's stepping down from his role as
chairman today, he'll take up the role of a technology advisor to
Microsoft's new CEO, Satya Nadella.
""I'm thrilled that Satya has asked me to step up, substantially
increasing my time at the company," Gates says in a statement. "I'll
have over a third of my time available to meet with product groups and
it'll be fun to define this next round of products working together."
Though Gates has regularly said that he'd prefer to spend more of his
time working toward philanthropic projects than Microsoft, Nadella is
said to have requested Gates assistance as he steps into his new role.
Gates will be succeeded as
chairman by John Thompson, who joined Microsoft's board in February of
2012. Thompson is currently the CEO of Virtual Instruments and
previously served as CEO and chairman of Symantec.
