14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella announced a few hours ago that Stephen Elop, the former Nokia boss and head of the Devices and Services unit at the software giant, would leave the company alongside other executives as part of a new internal reorganization that shakes up the company’s leadership team.
As Nadella explains in a letter to employees (which you can read in full after the jump), Terry Myerson, often referred to as the Windows boss, will lead a new team called Windows and Devices Group (WDG), which will take care not only of Windows but also of the new hardware developed at Microsoft.
“This new team brings together all the engineering capability required to drive breakthrough innovations that will propel the Windows ecosystem forward. WDG will drive Windows as a service across devices of all types and build all of our Microsoft devices including Surface, HoloLens, Lumia, Surface Hub, Band and Xbox,” Nadella writes.
Elop will “retire” from Microsoft
As far as Elop’s controversial tenure at Microsoft is concerned (especially after leaving to become a Nokia CEO only to return several years after that and help Microsoft purchase the Finnish mobile phone maker), Nadella says that he’s not leaving or getting fired. In fact, he “retired from Microsoft” because this is the right time to do it.
That certainly sounds like Elop’s future at Microsoft was planned ever since he returned last year, when the acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services unit was completed.
“He has been a strong advocate of the need to drive focus and accountability around the delivery of these experiences and has helped drive tighter alignment toward the ambition of more personal computing. With the structural change described above, Stephen and I have agreed that now is the right time for him to retire from Microsoft. I regret the loss of leadership that this represents, and look forward to seeing where his next destination will be,” Nadella goes on to add.
Elop’s next destination is yet to be revealed, but with all the accusations he has received in the last couple of years, it might be really hard to find a new job right now.
Read Nadella’s letter to employees below.