14 DAY TRIAL // Back in 2005, Microsoft announced that it was realigning for the upcoming waves of innovation and growth. The Redmond Company was subsequently restructured in three new divisions that have survived intact until mid May 2007. The Microsoft Platform Products & Services Division was lead by Kevin Johnson and Jim Allchin as co-presidents (Allchin has departed from Microsoft following the shipping of Windows Vista); Jeff Raikes is president of the Microsoft Business Division; and Robbie Bach is president of Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division.
At the end of the past week, Microsoft introduced a re-structuring of the three existing divisions. As a result, the Server and Tools Business (STB) is no longer an integer part of the Platforms & Services Division and instead has been moved to the Microsoft Business Division.
"Our Server and Tools Business (STB), led by Bob Muglia, is moving from the Platform & Services Division (PSD) to the Microsoft Business Division (MBD). Also moving from PSD to MBD are Sanjay Parthasarathy and his Developer & Platform Evangelism (D&PE) team. The STB and D&PE teams will move intact, with Sanjay reporting into Bob and Bob reporting to Jeff Raikes. D&PE will continue to evangelize the entire roster of Microsoft offerings, as well as server and tools," revealed Microsoft Chief Executive Office Steve Ballmer via an e-mail as cited by SeatllePI.
The implications of this move are not exactly clear at this time. Microsoft has confirmed the shuffle but it has failed to offer an explanation. The company did provide Mary Jo Foley with an ambiguous perspective: "Microsoft senior leadership decided to make these changes to sharpen leadership focus on the company's top priorities and align its organization for innovation, ultimately enabling it to deliver even more value to its customers."
But the biggest change for Microsoft is yet to come, although it was announced two years in advance. Bill Gates himself will leave his day-to-day role at Microsoft starting with the summer of 2008.