There's a long-overdue changing of the guards at Microsoft, and CEO Satya Nadella is pinning a huge chunk of his hopes on one man who seems like he already has too much on his plate.
Following the announced departure of the current chief of its Devices Group and former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Nadella is folding over two major divisions, the Devices Group and the Operating Systems Group, into one unit, the Windows and Devices Group. Current operating systems chief Terry Myerson will take charge of the integrated unit and oversee both the software and hardware businesses of Microsoft even as his job of bringing back the fortunes of Windows continues to be a major challenge.
Myerson appears to be on a promising path with the pending launch of Windows 10 on July 29. He is also responsible for the development of a new web browser to replace the laggy and aging Internet Explorer as well as a number of innovative projects that the old Microsoft wouldn't have thought about, such as the HoloLens augmented reality hardware.
Between the slumping PC market and Microsoft's big blunder called Windows 8, Myerson already has a lot on his plate trying to revive Windows in a consumer market that is increasingly turning to smartphones and tablets to get their computing done. And as if that wasn't enough, Nadella has handpicked Myerson himself to take up another ailing division and attempt to bring it back to life.
When Microsoft purchased Nokia Oyj in 2014, it had high hopes that bringing in the original world leader in mobile phones could provide a boost to its own phone business. Now, Microsoft admits it will not even get the division to an "operational break-even."
Myerson's new role is to take over Elop's old team and inject new ways to bring Microsoft's hardware business up to snuff in a market dominated on one end by Apple and Google on the other, which is already a heck of a job, especially when combined with his responsibilities over Windows. Myerson will also oversee the development of Microsoft's other hardware, such as the Xbox, its line of Surface tablets, which is slowly seeing progress amidst a slowing tablet market, and the HoloLens goggles he introduced.
"Anyone who got the phone business would have a huge challenge, even without the other things he already had to deal with," says Mike Silver, a Gartner analyst, speaking to Bloomberg. "You add it all up and it's certainly a lot."
Alongside personal computing, Nadella has announced two other goals he wants for Microsoft. In a memo to employees published on Microsoft's website, Nadella says he wants to make a push for the cloud and dominate the productivity business, realistic goals that Microsoft appears to be moving toward.
The Cloud and Enterprise Group (C+E), which works on Microsoft's data analytics and security products for enterprises, will continue under the same leader, Scott Guthrie, who will also now head the development teams working on Microsoft's Dynamics projects. Qi Lu will also remain the chief of the Applications and Services Group (ASG), which works on Microsoft's productivity services, including the Office suite of apps. Both the C+E and ASG will work closely together to ensure the cohesive inclusion of productivity services into Microsoft's cloud platform.
A trio of high-ranking executives, aside from Elop, is also leaving. Kirill Tatarinov, who heads the Dynamics team, is one of them. Former Clinton family pollster and Bill Gates protégé Mark Penn, best known for the "Scroogled" series of TV advertisements attacking Google, is also leaving to form his own private equity fund. Eric Rudder, also mentored by Gates himself and was once seen as a contender for the chief technical position when Gates steps down, will be relinquishing his responsibilities at Microsoft.
Photo: Jorge Figueroa | Flickr
