Bill Gates stepped down from Microsoft's Board of Directors

REDMOND, Wash., March 13, 2020 Microsoft Corp. today announced that Co-Founder and Technology Advisor Bill Gates stepped down from the company's Board of Directors to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities including global health, development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change. He will continue to serve as Technology Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and other leaders in the company.

Let's see who the people are that are running the Microsoft economic battleship.

The majestic 12 on the MS BOD (not to be confused with the BSOD)

John W. Thompson

John Wendell Thompson is the chairman of Microsoft. He is a former CEO at Virtual Instruments, a vice-president at IBM and the former chief executive officer of Symantec. Thompson later became an independent director on the board of Microsoft, and on February 4, 2014, he was named the chairman of the board. He led the search for Microsoft's next CEO; as a result, Satya Nadella was selected. source:Wikipedia

Reid Hoffman

Reid Garrett Hoffman CBE is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for professional networking. He is currently a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners. On the Forbes 2019 list of the world's billionaires, Hoffman was ranked #1349 with a net worth of US$1.8 billion. source:Wikipedia

Hoffman's current venture capital investments include Airbnb, Apollo Fusion, Aurora, Blockstream, Coda, Convoy, Entrepreneur First, Gixo, Nauto, Xapo.

Past investments include 3DSolve, Coupons.com, Digg, Edmodo, Flickr, IronPort, Knewton, Kongregate, Last.fm, Nanosolar, One Kings Lane, Permuto, Ping.fm, Shopkick, SixApart, thesixtyone, Swipely, Tagged, Technetto, TrialPay, Vendio, VigLink, Viki, Wikia, and Wrapp. He served on Zynga's board of directors from March 2008 to June 2014, and on shopkick's board of directors from its foundation in July 2009 until its acquisition by SK Telecom in October 2014.

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Hugh Johnson

Hugh Johnston is executive vice president and chief financial officer of PepsiCo, a global food and beverage company with net revenues of more than $65 billion and a product portfolio that includes 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. PepsiCo's main businesses – Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola – make hundreds of enjoyable foods and beverages that are loved throughout the world. Source:PepsiCo

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Teri List-Stoll

Teri List-Stoll is the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Gap Inc. List-Stoll previously served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., where she oversaw the finance and legal organization. Before this, she served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at Kraft Foods Group. source:Microsoft

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Satya Nadella

Satya Narayana Nadella is an Indian American business executive. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014.
Nadella was born in Hyderabad into a South Indian Telugu speaking Hindu family. His mother Prabhavati was a Sanskrit lecturer and his father, Bukkapuram Nadella Yugandhar, was a civil servant of 1962 batch who worked for the Indian Administrative Service of the Government of India. source:Wikipedia

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Sandi Peterson

Sandi Peterson is an American businesswoman. She is currently an Operating Partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and serves on the Microsoft Board of Directors. source:Wikipedia

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Penny Pritzker

Penny Sue Pritzker is an American billionaire businesswoman, entrepreneur, and civic leader. President Barack Obama nominated Pritzker as United States Secretary of Commerce. After being confirmed by a Senate vote of 97–1, she became the 38th person to hold that position. source:Wikipedia

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Charles Scharf

Charles W. Scharf is an American businessman who serves as the chief executive officer and president of Wells Fargo. He previously was the CEO of Visa Inc.Gardner, Sean. "Visa hires JPMorgan's Charles Scharf as CEO". Reuters. Retrieved October 28, 2014. and BNY Mellon, and was on the Microsoft board of directors.

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Arne Sorenson

Arne Morris Sorenson is an American hotel executive. He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International. A graduate of Luther College and the University of Minnesota Law School, Sorenson became the head of the largest publicly traded hotel chain in the world on March 31, 2012. source:Wikipedia

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John W. Stanton

John W. Stanton is the chairman of the board of Trilogy International Partners, as well as the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball. source:Wikipedia

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Emma Walmsley

Emma Natasha Walmsley, HonFRSC is the chief executive officer of GlaxoSmithKline. She succeeded Sir Andrew Witty, who retired in March 2017. Before working for GSK she worked for L'Oréal for 17 years and was a non-executive director of Diageo until September 2016. She grew up Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.source:Wikipedia

Diageo's brands include Smirnoff (the world's best selling vodka), Johnnie Walker, Baileys (the world's best selling liqueur) and Guinness. It also owns 37% of Moët Hennessy, which owns brands including Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot and Hennessy. It sells its products in over 180 countries and has offices in around 80 countries

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Padmasree Warrior

Padmasree Warrior is Chief Executive Officer of NIO U.S as well as a member of its board of directors. In these capacities, she is responsible for the brains of NIO's autonomous, electric vehicles and the overall user experience. She is based in San Jose, CA where NIO U.S. is headquartered. source:Wikipedia

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All of this together paints a picture of corporate globalism in food (snacks), beverages, liquor, pharmacy, healthcare technology, electric vehicles, clothing industry, luxury resorts, hotels, perfume, telecom, network technology, banking, investment, art, entertainment and... philanthropy.