14 DAY TRIAL // ValueAct Capital, the investment firm that purchased a $2 billion (€1.5 billion) stake in Microsoft last year, has finally been granted a seat in the company’s board.
Microsoft has recently released a press statement to inform that ValueAct Capital president Mason Morfit has been added to the company’s board and its audit committee.
Of course, Microsoft announced the new appointment with much fanfare, saying that Mason has what it takes to guide the software giant towards a successful financial era that would ensure long-term profitability.
“We’ve had the opportunity to work with Mason over the past six months, and we look forward to working with him more closely as a member of the board,” said John Thompson, chairman of the Microsoft board. “Mason brings valuable insights given his financial background, his extensive experience as a public company director and his perspective as a significant Microsoft shareholder.”
At the same time, Morfit has also expressed his delight to join Microsoft’s board, explaining that he’s very excited to work with Satya Nadella, the company’s new CEO since February.
“Microsoft is an iconic global company with tremendous long-term potential,” said Morfit. “I am honored to be joining the board, and I look forward to working with Satya Nadella, Chairman John Thompson and the rest of the board of directors to help continue to drive growth and value for all shareholders.”
While seeing Morfit joining Microsoft’s board could be really good news for some, it’s also a sign that ValueAct Capital has been quite an active player behind the closed doors since it purchased Microsoft shares.
ValueAct Capital has been considered as one of the main shareholders who tried to get rid of Steve Ballmer, even though nobody has ever provided an official reason for the retirement of the CEO who has been at the helm of the company for 13 years.
On the other hand, ValueAct has been trying to obtain a seat in the board in order to make sure that Microsoft is fully embracing a devices and services approach that would help the company focus more on its enterprise side and less on consumer products that wouldn’t generate such a hefty profit.
Word is that ValueAct wants Microsoft to pay more focus to cloud services and the Office productivity suite, which are actually two of the products that will expand significantly in the coming months and arrive on new and yet unexplored platforms.