Microsoft today announced the executive shake-up that has been rumored to be coming. Microsoft packed a number of promotions and departures into the press release. Most notable among them is the departure of Steve Berkowitz, who left Ask.com to join Microsoft nearly two years ago. Berkowitz will step down from his role as senior vice president of the Online Services Group at the end of August.
Satya Nadella has been named senior VP of the Search, Portals and Advertising Group, heading up Microsoft's engineering efforts across Live Search, Microsoft adCenter, and Subscriptions, Points and Billing platforms. Windows VP Bill Veghte moves up to senior VP of the Online Services and Windows Business Group, which will include Windows Live, MSN and Search.
Nadella, Veghte, and former aQuantive exec Brian McAndrews, now senior VP of Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group, will play key roles in Microsoft's plans. No new role was named for McAndrews, leaving many to speculate that he is being held in reserve to lead an acquired Yahoo, if that should come to pass.
For in-depth looks at all the changes, see Mary Jo Foley's All About Microsoft blog or Joe Wilcox's Microsoft Watch. Om Malik has copies of Microsoft memos discussing the moves.
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