14 DAY TRIAL // Don't expect the love bug for this Valentine's Day over in Redmond. Instead, Microsoft's celebration will be focused on a tad of inhouse cleaning. However, the fact that a long-anticipated Microsoft executive shuffle is just around the corner, as Valentine's Day hits, is nothing more than a mere coincidence. The end of this week will be synonymous for Microsoft with a company-wide reorganization, and among the heads expected to fall are at least two top executives.
The Redmond company has failed to confirm officially the imminent executive shuffle, but it is expected to do so anytime now. Steven Berkowitz and Mike Sievert are the two executives whose divorce from Microsoft will come into effect this week. Despite the fact that Microsoft itself is not breathing a single word on the matter, third-party sources have confirmed the departures, already a hot subject on the rumor mill.
Steve Berkowitz, Senior Vice President, Online Services Group, and the former Ask.com Chief Executive Officer, was "responsible for the marketing, sales and business development related to Microsoft's online services, including MSN.com and Windows Live," while at Microsoft. Apparently, Satya Nadella, the Corporate Vice President of Search and Advertising will take on Berkowitz's responsibilities, as far as MSN is concerned. When it comes down to Windows Live, Corporate Vice President of Windows, Bill Veghte, will centralize all of Windows marketing.
G. Michael Sievert is right on his way to becoming the former Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Marketing. "As corporate vice president for Windows Product Marketing at Microsoft, Michael Sievert is responsible for driving global marketing for Windows with customers and partners across all consumer and business segments. In 2006 and 2007, Sievert was responsible for the worldwide introduction of Windows Vista, which quickly became the fastest-adopted operating system in Microsoft history, achieving nearly 40 million licenses in the first 100 days," reads the introductory fragment of Sievert's official bio.
Sievert is in fact the only one of the three to have admitted that he is leaving Microsoft. "When I told the company about my plans, we decided to wait until these other changes to announce my departure, to enable a smooth transition of leadership. I'm excited about the next adventure but I will miss the challenges at Microsoft. It is a great company with great people," Sievert stated as cited by Beyond Binary, revealing that the end of February will also be his last day with the company.
