Microsoft has named internal candidate Satya Nadella as its new chief executive, replacing outgoing boss Steve Ballmer, with founder Bill Gates standing aside as chairman.
The leadership reshuffle will see Gates take a more “hands-on” role in running the company as its technology advisor.
Nadella joined the company in 1992 and previously oversaw the company’s enterprise and cloud computing division, including its Bing search engine. He becomes only the third chief executive in the tech giant’s 39-year history.
“Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth,” Gates says in a statement.
SPC Ardmona hits back at “extraordinary” entitlement claims
SPC Ardmona managing director Peter Kelly has issued a two-page statement lashing out at Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s claims the company’s troubles were caused by its “extraordinary” entitlements.
The comments came after Cabinet knocked back a request for $25 million in federal government assistance in modernising the plant.
“The total cost of allowances for all production staff at SPC Ardmona for the entire year of 2013 was $116,467, which represents less than 0.1% of the business’s cost of goods for the year,” Kelly states.
“The serious problems that have beset SPCA have not been because of labour costs and certainly not from the allowances, a fact borne out by the Productivity Commission’s recent analysis.
“The business has been severely damaged in recent times by a perfect storm created by external economic factors.”
EU prepares €20 billion Greek bailout package
The European Union is preparing a third bailout package for Greece, worth €20 billion ($A30.2b), with the package, set to be decided on in April, discussed at a euro zone meeting last week.
The latest package comes on top of loans to the struggling nation worth a total of €240 billion.
“What is sure is that any further aid would be much less expansive than help so far,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says.
Overnight
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down to 5114.1. The Aussie dollar is up to US89.43 cents.
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