Microsoft announced Friday three new appointments to head key divisions. In the most prominent appointment, Kurt DelBene has been named president of its Office division, a promotion from his previously position as head of the engineering and development teams in the business division.
p
The Office division accounts for about a third of the company’s annual revenue of about $16 billion. Total revenue for the unit grew 15 percent in the quarter ended June 30, and operating income increased 20 percent.
p
DelBene, 50, has been with the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant for 18 years, and his team was behind the development of the recently launched Office 2010 products and services. In his new role, DelBene will be responsible for both the engineering and marketing functions for Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, Vision and the company’s speech technology.
p
subhead
Andy Lees, Don Mattrick
/subhead
p
DelBene replaces Stephen Elop, who recently became the chief executive at Nokia.
p
At the same time, Microsoft appointed Andy Lees as president of the mobile communications business. A 20-year Microsoft veteran, the 45-year-old Lees was previously senior vice president of the division, and he oversaw the development of Windows Phone 7.
p
Don Mattrick was named president of the interactive entertainment business. He was senior vice president as the installed base for the Xbox 360 grew to 42 million owners worldwide and more than 25 million Xbox Live users. Mattrick will also be responsible for Kinect, Zune music and video, and PC and mobile interactive entertainment.
p
Today’s promotions underscore the strength of Microsoft’s collective leadership team, CEO Steve Ballmer said, and set us up well to execute against a powerful lineup of products this fall.
p
subhead
‘Major Momentum’
/subhead
p
Ballmer added that not only is the team ready to capitalize on major momentum with our existing products like Office, SharePoint and Halo: Reach, but they are simultaneously bringing entirely new experiences…