At Microsoft there is once again a reorganization in the Windows division. The head of the Surface development is now also the head of the Windows development. Therefore Joe Belfiore will be the head of the office division.
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Somehow a bigger action has been initiated in terms of chair moving at Microsoft, as Mary Foley at ZDNet reports.
- Panos Panay, will now lead the Windows Experiences group along with the Hardware group. The new group is called Devices + Windows Group. Until now, the Windows Experiences group was under Joe Belfiore.
- Panos Panay will continue to report to Rajesh Jha, Executive Vice President of Microsoft's Experiences and Devices Group.
- Joe Belfiore and Ales Holecek will lead the Office Experience Group (OXO) team as the product/engineering team. Joe Belfiore will continue to lead Microsoft News and other mobile applications on iOS and Android.
- Eran Megiddo, Corporate Vice President of Windows Product & Education, will lead the Modern Life Experiences (MLX) and Education group. Brian Macdonald, who currently leads the teams, will retire from Microsoft.
- Jeff Tepper will now lead the teams along with SharePoint and OneDrive.
- Kirk Koenigsbauer, CVP of Microsoft 365, will become COO of Rajesh Jha.
By the way, Jeff Weiner is retiring as head of LinkedIn, his successor will be Ryan Roslansky. Here is another e-mail from Panos Panay to his employees:
"Personally I'm very excited to lead the Windows Client for Microsoft, which will help us streamline our decision-making processes, be clear on our priorities, and deliver the best end user experiences from silicon through operating systems across all Microsoft apps and service connected devices (OEMs and Surface). We believe this will make the Windows Client experience better for the entire PC ecosystem. Designing hardware and software together will enable us to do a better job on our long term Windows bets (dual screen, silicon diversity, connectivity, app platform, etc.) and having a single point of Windows Client Experience leadership driving consistent priorities and resourcing across all of Windows client will help all of us accelerate innovation and improve execution. This is such an amazing time and opportunity to bring more energy to Windows and our customers using Windows. It won't be easy, but extending our growth will be key for our company strategy."
Mary Foley reports the rumor that Panos Panay was looking for a new role within or outside Microsoft at the end of last year. Her sources said that he was also considering taking a leave of absence or toying with the idea of switching to Apple. But these are unconfirmed rumors. How do OEMs behave now when Surface and Windows development are in one hand? One will have to wait and see.
