Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is a cricket fan. He was among the millions of cricket fans glued to their screens on Wednesday, witnessing India’s commanding 70-run victory over New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final. However, India lost to Australia in the finals and this broke the hearts of millions of Indian cricket team’s fans and supporters. Amid this, Mr Nadella was asked if he was planning to buy Australia after India’s loss. This comes as Microsoft made the announcement to hire Sam Altman, who was fired from his position as the CEO of OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft.
He made an appearance on Kara Swisher’s podcast and discussed the dramatic weekend at OpenAI. During the interview, the host asked the Microsoft CEO about the World Cup loss.”The India and Australia cricket thing, I’m so sorry for you there, but are you thinking of buying Australia now?” the host jokingly asked him. To this, Mr Nadella said, “That would be like buying OpenAI. None of those can be accomplished, but we can partner well with OpenAI and enjoy Aussies playing cricket.”
Satya Nadella had closely watched the final match of the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup. In a post on X, he congratulated the Aussies and appreciated the hard work of the Rohit Sharma-led team. “Congratulations to Australia on winning the World Cup! Great run to the finals, India,” he said.
The Microsoft Chief has been vocal about his love for cricket and stated that the sport taught him teamwork and leadership that helped him rise through the twists and turns of the corporate world. “I think playing cricket taught me more about working in teams and leadership that has stayed with me throughout my career,” he said after his appointment as Microsoft CEO was announced.
Meanwhile, Announcing Microsoft’s move to hire the former OpenAI Chief, Mr Nadella posted on X, “We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them.”
With this move, Microsoft’s shares rose about 1.5%, with the company on track to add nearly $30 billion to its market value at current levels. That was nearly equal to the valuation OpenAI commanded in its last fundraise.