Microsoft Corporation said on Wednesday that the current Chief Executive Satya Nadella will be serving as the new Chairman while the former Chairman John Thompson will serve as a lead independent director.

Thompson had taken over CEO from the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2014.

Nadella has been instrumental to Microsoft to maintain and expand the company's monopoly into new dimensions. Microsoft has expanded its regime as the company acquired Linked in, Nuance Communications, and ZeniMax.

The top-level executive change comes just over a year after Gates stepped down from the board, saying he would focus on philanthropic works of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world's biggest charities.

The company had last month said it conducted a probe into Gates' involvement with an employee almost 20 years ago after it was told in 2019 that he had tried to start a romantic relationship with the person.

Microsoft had declined to comment on whether its board had decided Gates should go.