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Former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop selected to oversee Xbox
After choosing Satya Nadella to replace Steve Ballmer as CEO, Microsoft has elected to appoint Stephen Elop as head of its Devices and Studios division. The news comes from an internal memo posted over on TechCrunch. Microsoft's Devices and Studios wing oversees Xbox, Surface, entertainment and games. Elop was the former CEO of Nokia, which Microsoft announced it intended to purchase last year. Elop will replace Julie Larson-Green, who will shift roles from hardware over to Microsoft's My Life and Work team, a subdivision of the Applications and Services Group. Prior to her appointment as head of Xbox last year, Larson-Green was in charge of all Windows products. At one point, Elop was in the running to replace Ballmer at Microsoft, at which point insiders claim he was considering selling off the Xbox division. Elop served as CEO of Nokia for three years. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
Microsoft reorganizes for 'One Strategy, One Microsoft'; names new Xbox head
Microsoft announced a major reorganization of the company this morning, which will hopefully create a more unified and holistic approach to product development. The Xbox group is now under a division called "Devices and Studios Engineering Group." As previously rumored, it will be headed by Julie Larson-Green, who was previously in charge of Windows products. Larsen-Green will take responsibility for " experiences including all games, music, video and other entertainment." "We are rallying behind a single strategy as one company - not a collection of divisional strategies," CEO Steve Ballmer wrote in a company memo this morning. "Although we will deliver multiple devices and services to execute and monetize the strategy, the single core strategy will drive us to set shared goals for everything we do."
Report: Ballmer to make Windows chief new head of Xbox division
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is considering Julie Larson-Green, the current Windows chief, to take over hardware engineering for the entire company, including the Xbox division, Bloomberg reports. Currently, Larson-Green is in charge of Windows products at Microsoft: She led the UI design of Office XP, 2003 and 2007, and she managed the launch of Windows 7 in 2009. Larson-Green recently oversaw the Windows 8 launch, which has been trickier than Windows 7. This is part of a company restructuring plan that Ballmer is expected to announce next week, at the earliest. In June, reports indicated Ballmer's changes would focus on making Microsoft a "devices and services" company, along with giving Mattrick a larger role. Obviously that's out of the question now – Mattrick announced his resignation from Microsoft yesterday, and he's poised to take over as CEO of Zynga next week.
