Microsoft Is Looking For Women And Minority Candidates To Eventually Replace CEO Satya Nadella

In its annual proxy statement, which was first spotted by CNBC, Microsoft said its board of directors “is committed to actively seeking highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool of potential CEO candidates.”

The statement does not indicate that Nadella is on his way out imminently—companies typically include statements in annual regulatory filings about CEO succession, but rarely do they include promises about diversity.

In the wake of the George Floyd protests over the summer, Microsoft pledged to double the number of Black managers and senior leaders in the U.S. by 2025—though that effort is under scrutiny from the Justice Department.

According to its 2019 diversity report, women comprise 29.2% of Microsoft’s workforce, Black employees are 4.4%, Latinx workers are 6.2% and 33.3% are Asian.