Micro management delivers the goods

Under Satya Nadella, Microsoft has more subscribers than Netflix, more cloud computing revenue than Google, and a near-trillion-dollar market cap. Austin Carr and Dina Bass report on how he did it

Satya Nadella has overseen a remarkable transformation in Microsoft’s fortunes since taking over as chief executive five years ago Pic: Getty

The congratulatory texts and tweets started during the last week of November 2018. Microsoft had overtaken Apple to become the world’s most valuable company, a stunning climax in a year that also saw it pass out Amazon and Google’s Alphabet Inc.

Long-time employees who’d grown accustomed to thinking of Microsoft as far removed from its glory years were flooded with messages from friends and family. Yet not a word of this achievement was ...