Microsoft chooses Stephen Elop as Raikes' successor

Stephen Withers
Friday, 11 January 2008 10:19

IT People - People

Stephen Elop, formerly chief operating officer at Juniper Networks, will take over from Jeff Raikes as president of the Microsoft Business Division at the end of January.

Raikes said "I remain committed to Microsoft and will work full time between now and September when I retire. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to working closely with Stephen and the MBD leadership team to ensure a smooth transition."

Note that word "retire" - Raikes is only 49, but he has been with Microsoft since 1981, before which he was a software development manager at Apple. Someone joining Microsoft that early in the company's history should have done well from stock options, and with Bill Gates also set to depart it isn't surprising that he's chosen 2008 to leave the company.

Elop is only five years younger than his predecessor. He spent seven years at Macromedia, and was president and CEO when the company was acquired by Adobe in 2005. He stayed with Adobe as president of worldwide field operations until 2006, and then took up the COO position at Juniper Networks.

"Throughout my career, whether I've been working on collaboration tools, digital media, or, most recently, network infrastructure at Juniper Networks, I’ve always been driven by my passion for technology and the impact it has on people and organizations," Elop said.

"I'm thrilled to be joining Microsoft, whose software and services touch literally hundreds of millions of people around the globe each day. I look forward to building on the great foundation Jeff and his team have established for the Microsoft Business Division."