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CEO Ballmer appoints presidents of three core divisions; Allchin announces retirement plan.
Sept. 20, 2005 — In order to drive greater agility in the execution of its software and services strategy, Microsoft Corp. today announced a realignment of the company into three newly formed divisions, each of which will be led by its own president. The Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division will be led by Kevin Johnson and Jim Allchin as co-presidents; Jeff Raikes has been named president of the Microsoft Business Division; and Robbie Bach has been named as president of Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division. In addition, the company said Ray Ozzie will expand his role as chief technical officer by assuming responsibility for helping drive its software-based services strategy and execution across all three divisions.
The company also announced that Allchin plans to retire at the end of calendar year 2006 following the commercial availability of Windows Vista™, the next-generation Microsoft® Windows® operating system.
Whichever comes last, presumably.
Johnson will succeed Allchin, taking ownership of the Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division, which comprises Windows Client, Server and Tools, and MSN®.
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Eric Rudder, senior vice president of Server and Tools, will be taking on a new role working directly for Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect. Rudder will focus on some of the company’s key advanced development efforts as well as overall technical strategy. Rudder will transition into his new role following the launch of Visual Studio® and SQL Server™ 2005 later this year.
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The Information Worker business and Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) will combine to form the Microsoft Business Division, with Doug Burgum, senior vice president, reporting to Raikes.
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The new Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division, which combines the current Home and Entertainment Division with the current Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, will consolidate Microsoft’s industry engagement around devices to deliver even richer and more relevant scenarios for individuals at work, at home and when they’re mobile. It will also bring more focus to the company’s efforts in entertainment and related devices and services. Accordingly, the senior vice president of Microsoft’s Mobile and Embedded Devices Division, Pieter Knook, will report to Bach.
Pardon my skepticism, but reorganizations rarely make things better and this one seems to merely insert another layer of management. I did, however, find interesting the inclusion of MSN with Client and Server and Tools. Sounds like Web 2.0!
