Microsoft CEO Nadella Touts ‘New Franchises’ In Security, Gaming, LinkedIn As Cloud Growth Surges The company has been bringing a stronger focus on emerging business lines such as security, and the investments have been paying off, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the company’s quarterly call with analysts on Tuesday. By Wade Tyler Millward July 27, 2021, 08:50 PM EDT Even as Microsoft’s cloud businesses such as Azure and Office 365 continue to see fast-rising demand, the company’s bets on its newer business lines are contributing significant growth as well, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Tuesday. During the company’s quarterly call with analysts, Nadella pointed to “new franchises” such as security, which has become one of the biggest areas of investment for Microsoft in recent years. At the company’s Inspire partner conference this month, for instance, Nadella said that “the Microsoft cloud is the only cloud with best-of-breed and best-of-suite security capabilities.”