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Bob Muglia, the president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools business is out and it looks like he has been pushed:
Bob Muglia, head of servers and tools, is leaving Microsoft this summer.
In a memo to employees, Steve Ballmer says he’s conducting a search internally and externally for a replacement.
He also says, "I have decided that now is the time to put new leadership in place for STB," which makes it seem like he’s tossing Muglia.
Server and tools is Microsoft’s third biggest businesses. It generated $4 billion in revenue last quarter.
Click through for the full text of Ballmer’s memo but here’s the pertinent clip:
The best time to think about change is when you are in a position of strength, and that’s where we are today with STB – leading the server business, successful with our developer tools, and poised to lead the rapidly emerging cloud future. Bob Muglia and I have been talking about the overall business and what is needed to accelerate our growth. In this context, I have decided that now is the time to put new leadership in place for STB. This is simply recognition that all businesses go through cycles and need new and different talent to manage through those cycles. Bob has been a phenomenal partner throughout this process, and he and his leadership team have the right strategy in place.
In conjunction with this leadership change, Bob has decided to leave Microsoft this summer.
Sounds like he was definitely pushed. I have often said that Server and Tools gets no respect at Microsoft while it has built success after success in a much more competitive environment than that facing the other Microsoft cash cows of Windows (client) and Office and this is apparently just more of the same. One surely has to wonder what Ballmer is thinking since there are numerous other areas in Microsoft that could really use a shakeup. Anyhow, Muglia gets to run the operation until a new leader is found and then bring him/her onboard before departing.
Steve Ballmer has announced that Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie is leaving and that his post will not be filled.
With our progress in services and the cloud now full speed ahead in all aspects of our business, Ray and I are announcing today Ray’s intention to step down from his role as chief software architect. He will remain with the company as he transitions the teams and ongoing strategic projects within his organization – bringing the great innovations and great innovators he’s assembled into the groups driving our business.
Woody Leonhard at Infoworld says "Ray Ozzie’s leaving Microsoft: What took him so long?" and Joe Wilcox opines that the problem was that Ozzie really wasn’t one of Steve Ballmer’s boys. Take the money and run, Ray – there are lots of places where you can do interesting technical work.
Nokia today announced the appointment of Stephen Elop, currently the President of Microsoft’s Business Division (i.e. mostly Office), as their new president and CEO starting September 21. Nokia needed a change since they have been left as far behind in the smartphone race as Microsoft, but observers are skeptical if Elop is the right man for a tough job (similar thoughts here).
As for Microsoft, no replacement has been named and now Steve Ballmer has two major Microsoft businesses reporting directly to him, the Business Division and the Entertainment & Devices Division.
The latest installment in the Microsoft layoff rumor saga is provided by CNBC’s Jim Goldman who says that anonymous sources tell him that
Microsoft will embark on a significant cost-cutting initiative in 2009, which might begin as early as this month, to offset a global slowdown in sales.
However, sources tell me the cuts will largely be handled through attrition and the non-renewal of contract employees, rather than through a rumored, sweeping layoff.
Attrition can forced, of course, and non-renewal of contract employees is a standard corporate cost cutting activity albeit a difficult one for the tech industry where contractors often provide organizational bone and muscle, not fat. Still, if these sources are to be believed, there will be no sweeping Microsoft layoffs of regular employees.
