Do we like them?Do we like Satya Nadella?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A decent record with no harmful words of his own found, but a contested Israel cloud deal and thin evidence of what he's done for people keep it mid-table.
Satya Nadella is the boss of Microsoft, and lately he's been asked about it in a courtroom. In May he testified in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman and Microsoft, saying Musk never raised problems with him about the OpenAI deal even though they had each other's numbers. He also said the board's reason for sacking Altman didn't stack up and suggested there may have been some jealousy. Microsoft is a defendant in that suit, not Nadella personally.
The story that follows him around is Israel. In May 2025 a Microsoft worker interrupted his Build keynote to protest the company's Israeli government contracts, and Microsoft later fired a protester. Microsoft says an internal review with an outside firm found no evidence its tech was used to harm civilians, but admits it can't see how customers use its software on their own servers. Protesters, from the No Azure for Apartheid group, reject that review.
It got heavier in August 2025, when a Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call investigation alleged Israel's Unit 8200 stored mass surveillance phone data on Azure. By September Microsoft's Brad Smith said a review found the storage broke its terms of service, and some services to a unit of the Defence Ministry were switched off. A former employee called it a win but said most of the contract was untouched. Where you land depends on whether you read it as a company acting once the facts emerged, or as a late and small step.
On the harm check, nothing turned up in Nadella's own words against LGBTQ+ people, women or migrants. A Microsoft Pride kick-off in 2017 carried a message from leadership on his behalf, but he isn't quoted there, so that's the company speaking. Microsoft gave US$1 million to Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration fund, as it gave to Trump's first and Biden's inaugurations. That is a company gift rather than anything he said. I didn't find a reliable page on his own climate record, so that's a gap.
The recent thing is AI. At the Hard Fork Live event in June he said “You can't deny that the perception is terrible” about public views of AI, while arguing it will lift pay. He also said he was open to people sharing in the wealth AI creates. Sceptics will say that's easy to say from the top of a company that is selling the stuff.
The good stuff is harder to pin down than the headlines. This search found plenty of corporate programs but little verified about what Nadella himself has done at a cost to himself. That's honestly a thin file rather than a bad one. No court has found against him personally, and I found no allegation of misconduct aimed at him.