Friday, June 16 2006 14:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: In a major announcement Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has said that he will be giving up his day-to-day role in the company in two years though he will continue to be the chairman of the IT giant.

The 50-year-old Gates has said that he wants to spend more time in his Foundation and on activities of the non profit foundation.

While Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will be taking over Gates' title of chief software architect, Craig Mundie, now chief technical officer, will take the new title of chief research and strategy officer.

"It's not a retirement, it's a reordering of my priorities," Gates told reporters.

Gates, a high school drop out has been one of the giants in the field of software and is one of the richest persons in the world.

Economic analysts believe that Gates' stepping down will have little to no impact on Microsoft and an indication of this was shares trading up 19 cents on the NASDAQ following the announcement.

In the last few years Bill Gates along with his wife Melinda have been spending an increasing amount of time with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation whose assets are now in the neighbourhood of US$ 30 billion.

The Foundation is very well known for its activities in different parts of the world particularly in Africa and in India where it is involved in health care for the poor and the needy.