Bill Gates stepping down from Microsoft board

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is stepping down from his role on the company’s board of directors to focus on philanthropy, the company announced Friday.

Gates will continue on as a tech adviser for leaders at Microsoft, including CEO Satya Nadella.

The billionaire philanthropist in 2008 transitioned out of his day-to-day role at the company, and stepped down as Microsoft’s board chairman in 2014.

Gates is also stepping down from the board of the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, he announced in a LinkedIn post.

“The leadership at the Berkshire companies and Microsoft has never been stronger, so the time is right to take this step,” Gates wrote.

Gates’s nonprofit, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, focuses on fighting extreme poverty and improving global health.

Nadella praised Gates in a statement on Friday, calling it a “tremendous honor and privilege” to have worked with him.

“Microsoft will continue to benefit from Bill’s ongoing technical passion and advice to drive our products and services forward. I am grateful for Bill’s friendship and look forward to continuing to work alongside him to realize our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

No immediate replacement for Gates was announced, and according to Microsoft the board will continue with 12 members.

Gates’s nonprofit announced at the beginning of February that it was donating $100 million to help find treatments and expand testing for the novel coronavirus, which he has said may be the “once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.”