Microsoft's AI-Driven Reorganization: Nadella Shifts Focus to Tech Innovation

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shakes up his own job, taps veteran exec as CEO of commercial business

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is naming one of the company's top executives to an even bigger role, and redefining his own job in a new effort to capitalize on the AI revolution. Judson Althoff, a 12-year Microsoft executive who has spent nine years leading the company's commercial sales organization, will take on the newly created position of CEO of its commercial business. He will oversee a reformulated commercial team that includes engineering, sales, marketing, operations, and finance leaders representing more than 75% of Microsoft's revenue. The move consolidates Microsoft's efforts to build and market products for businesses as it competes against rivals such as Amazon and Google, its own partner OpenAI, and a new wave of AI startups. It also shows Nadella's intent to delegate much of Microsoft's day-to-day commercial execution, giving him more time to work with the company's engineers on its long-term technology ambitions. "This isn't just evolution, it's reinvention, for each of us professionally and for Microsoft," Nadella wrote in an email to employees Wednesday outlining the changes and summing up the moment. Nadella in 'founder mode' The move follows a tumultuous period for the company. Microsoft has grappled with a public cybersecurity crisis, internal turmoil from widespread layoffs, and growing scrutiny over the role of its technology in international conflicts. It's also spending unprecedented sums on AI infrastructure and seeing its overall business reach new heights in the stock market. The change for Nadella reflects the spirit of a Silicon Valley trend known as founder mode, in which longtime leaders focus more on generational technology and platform shifts and less on the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day business. Nadella has been at Microsoft for 33 of its 50 years, including 11 as CEO. The goal of the new commercial organization under Althoff is to "drive growth and strengthen our position as the partner of choice for AI transformation," Nadella explained in the email. "This will also allow our engineering leaders and me to be laser focused on our highest ambition technical work -- across our datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation -- to lead with intensity and pace in this generational platform shift," he added. Althoff's new role and internal changes Nadella credited Althoff with designing and building Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS), calling it the company's most important growth engine and the "number one seed" in the industry. He said Althoff's expanded role positions Microsoft to accelerate growth while strengthening its standing as the "partner of choice for AI transformation." Althoff is an Ohio native who joined Microsoft in March 2013, after holding senior sales positions at Oracle and EMC. In his role as Microsoft EVP and chief commercial officer, he has been responsible for the sales strategy and revenue growth of the company's commercial business. Nadella outlined other internal reporting changes as part of the new structure: * Microsoft's marketing and operations organizations will now both report directly to Althoff. Nadella described this as a part of an effort to "tighten the feedback loop between what customers need and how we deliver and support them." * Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto and his team will be part of Althoff's organization while continuing to report to Nadella on central issues such as "on all-up business models, planning, consumer marketing, and corporate brand and communications," as the email put it. * Chief Operating Officer Carolina Dybeck Happe will continue to report to Nadella, working on the company's transformation while partnering with Althoff's organization. Microsoft's commercial businesses -- spanning Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics, LinkedIn, and related services -- generated about $220 billion of the company's $282 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, according to the company's most recent annual report. Althoff's new position is part of a broader trend of Microsoft having CEOs of individual businesses, including Mustafa Suleyman of Microsoft AI; Phil Spencer of Microsoft Gaming; Ryan Roslansky of LinkedIn; and Thomas Dohmke, of Microsoft's GitHub subsidiary. Here is the full text of Nadella's email, as made public by Microsoft. We are in the midst of a tectonic AI platform shift, one that requires us to both manage and grow our at-scale commercial business today, while building the new frontier and executing flawlessly across both. History shows that general purpose technologies like AI drive step changes in productivity and GDP growth, and we have a unique opportunity to help our customers and the world realize this promise. Our success depends on enabling commercial and public sector customers and partners to combine their human capital with new AI capabilities to change the frontier of how they operate. To accelerate this, we will increasingly need to bring together sales, marketing, operations, and engineering to drive growth and strengthen our position as the partner of choice for AI transformation. With this context, I have asked Judson Althoff to take on an expanded role as CEO of our commercial business. Over the past nine years, Judson has led our global sales organization and was the architect behind designing and building Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS) into what it is today: the "number one seed" in the industry and our company's most important growth engine. Takeshi Numoto and his marketing team will join this new organization, with Takeshi reporting directly to Judson as CMO, while also continuing to report directly to me on all-up business models, planning, consumer marketing, and corporate brand and communications. Our operations organization will also move to report to Judson. By bringing operations into the commercial business, we can tighten the feedback loop between what customers need and how we deliver and support them. Carolina Dybeck Happe will continue to report to me, as she works on our overall company transformation and continues to closely partner with Judson. Additionally, Judson will lead a new commercial leadership team that brings together leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations, and finance to drive our product strategy and governance, GTM readiness, and sales motions with shared accountability for the rigor and executional excellence our customers expect. This will also allow our engineering leaders and me to be laser focused on our highest ambition technical work -- across our datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation -- to lead with intensity and pace in this generational platform shift. Each one of us needs to be at our very best in terms of rapidly learning new skills, adopting new ways to work, and staying close to the metal to drive innovation across the entire stack!! This isn't just evolution, it's reinvention, for each of us professionally and for Microsoft. Satya

Satya Nadella reshuffles Microsoft's executive team so he has more time to focus on AI - SiliconANGLE

Satya Nadella reshuffles Microsoft's executive team so he has more time to focus on AI Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Satya Nadella is delegating some of his more mundane responsibilities to one of his top lieutenants so he has more time personally to focus on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. In a memo to employees today, Nadella (pictured) said he's promoting Judson Althoff, a 12-year veteran at the company to the newly created role of CEO of the company's commercial business. In his new position, Althoff, who spent the last nine years leading Microsoft's commercial sales organization, will take charge of the company's engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance teams, which account for more than 75% of its total revenue. Nadella said the company's future success is dependent on it being able to provide newer and more advanced AI capabilities to its customers. "To accelerate this, we will increasingly need to bring together sales, marketing, operations and engineering to drive growth and strengthen our position as the partner of choice for AI transformation," he explained. The reshuffle is designed to consolidate the company's efforts to build and market more business-focused products, as it strives to compete against rivals such as Amazon Web Services Inc. and Google LLC, as well as OpenAI and various other AI startups. Nadella will get to spend more time with the company's engineering teams and ensure development heads in the direction he wants. "This isn't just evolution, it's reinvention, for each of us professionally and for Microsoft," Nadella stressed. Anonymous sources who are familiar with Nadella's motives told the Wall Street Journal that the reshuffle shouldn't be seen as succession planning. The 58-year-old CEO is not planning to retire anytime soon, but simply desires to be more involved with efforts to build out the company's data centers and AI technologies, the person said. As a result, Althoff is stepping up to relieve him of responsibilities he's less enthusiastic about, such as sitting in on meetings and speaking at some events. "This will allow our engineering leaders and me to be laser focused on our highest ambition technical work across our datacenter build-out, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation-to lead with intensity and pace in this generational platform shift," Nadella wrote. Like all big technology companies, Microsoft has bet its future on the growth of AI, investing billions of dollars in capital into both developing the technology and building out the underlying compute and networking infrastructure it needs to run on. In July, Microsoft revealed that it's planning to spend more than $30 billion on these efforts in the first half of its current fiscal year. A good chunk of that cash will be spent on expanding the capabilities of its Copilot offerings, which infuse AI into a growing range of its products, such as Windows, Office and Teams. Althoff (pictured, right) is an experienced man who led the creation of Microsoft's Customer and Partner Solutions organization, which Nadella said is its "the number one seed in the industry and our company's most important growth engine." He joined the company in 2013 after holding senior sales positions at Oracle Corp. and EMC Corp., and was most recently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for the sales strategy of its commercial businesses. As part of the new reporting structure, Microsoft's chief marketing officer Takeshi Numoto and the leaders of its sales and operations organizations will now report to Althoff rather than Nadella. This will help to "tighten feedback loops between what customers need and how we deliver and support them," Nadella explained.

Microsoft names CEO to run commercial business, Satya Nadella to focus on tech - The Economic Times

Microsoft chief commercial officer Judson Althoff will take on an expanded role as CEO of commercial business, freeing up company chief Satya Nadella to focus more on the technical side of the business in the tech giant's quest to dominate the AI race. Althoff will lead what Microsoft CEO Nadella called a new organisation, which will combine sales, marketing and operations. Nadella said the reorganisation would help him and other engineering leaders to be "laser focused on our highest ambition technical work - across our data centre buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation," in a blog post on Wednesday. Althoff will also be the chief of a new commercial leadership team that includes leaders from engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance. "We are in the midst of a tectonic AI platform shift, one that requires us to both manage and grow our at-scale commercial business today, while building the new frontier and executing flawlessly across both," Nadella said. In 2021, Microsoft brought together its global sales and marketing organization and worldwide commercial business into a single unified organization, helmed by Althoff, who joined the company in 2013 as president of Microsoft North America. Microsoft last month said it is combining the separate marketplaces for its AI tools aimed at businesses into one offering called "Microsoft Marketplace." It previously offered tools for software developers, who use its Azure cloud computing service, on one marketplace, and applications and so-called "agents" - AI tools designed to carry out tasks on behalf of human users within applications - on another.

Microsoft's New Commercial Business CEO Says Nadella Can Now Return To 'Founder Mode' - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Judson Althoff, the new Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) commercial business chief, reflected on his new role, as CEO Satya Nadella is reallocating some of his responsibilities. Althoff To Focus On Products, Nadella On AI In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Althoff said that the re-organization 'frees' Nadella to return to "founder mode," focusing on the future of AI, including architectures, platforms, strategy, and how AI will shape the broader direction of the industry. Check the current price of MSFT stock here He added: "I'll be more focused on delivering on our product strategy, roadmap, and engineering deliveries." Earlier this week, Nadella told Microsoft employees that Althoff has been promoted to lead the company's commercial business. Althoff, who previously led Microsoft's global sales organization, will also head the new commercial leadership team and supervise marketing. Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto and his team will now report directly to Althoff. The reorganization is not part of a succession plan for Nadella, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Nadella, 58, intends to be more deeply involved in Microsoft's AI development and data center efforts. See Also: China Counters Trump's H1-B Crackdown, Launches K-Visa Program To Lure Talent Without Employer Sponsorship Nadella Pushes AI Focus Amid Chip Spend, Anthropic Deal Microsoft, like its tech rivals, has been heavily investing in AI. The company forecasted more than $30 billion in capital spending for the first quarter of its current fiscal year while also advancing development of its Copilot AI product. This move also follows a shift in strategy where Microsoft paid Amazon-backed Anthropic for AI features in Office apps, marking a major change from their previous reliance on OpenAI. According to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings, Microsoft has a momentum score of 75.65% and a growth rating of 97.86%. Click here to see how it compares to other leading tech companies. READ NEXT: Here's How Much You Would Have Made Owning Microsoft Stock In The Last 15 Years Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. MSFTMicrosoft Corp$516.500.15%OverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Microsoft CEO Hands Off Some Duties to Be 'Laser Focused' on AI | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. In a communication to employees that he shared online, Nadella said that Judson Althoff will take on an expanded role as CEO of the company's commercial business. Althoff has led Microsoft's global sales organization for nine years. Takeshi Numoto and his marketing team will join the new organization; Numoto will report Althoff as chief marketing officer while continuing to report to Nadella on some parts of the business; the operations organization will report to Althoff; and a new commercial leadership team will be led by Althoff, Nadella said. The commercial leadership team will "drive our product strategy and governance, GTM readiness, and sales motions with shared accountability for the rigor and executional excellence our customers expect," Nadella said. These changes will allow Nadella and engineering leaders to focus on "our highest ambition technical work," including datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science and product innovation, Nadella said. "Each one of us needs to be at our very best in terms of rapidly learning new skills, adopting new ways to work, and staying close to the metal to drive innovation across the entire stack," Nadella said. "This isn't just evolution, it's reinvention, for each of us professionally and for Microsoft." PYMNTS reported Sept. 23 that Microsoft is among the industry giants that recently set out their latest moves on AI and infrastructure and are positioning themselves for growth at a time when AI is advancing at breakneck speed. A week earlier, on Sept. 16, Microsoft announced a $30 billion investment in the United Kingdom through 2028 to expand AI and cloud infrastructure. This is one of the company's largest regional commitments to date. During a July 30 earnings call, Microsoft reported that it had a record fiscal year driven by demand for cloud and AI services. The quarter's results were boosted by enterprises accelerating their cloud migration as well as increased AI usage across the company's cloud stack.

Microsoft CEO Relinquishes Some Duties, Names Althoff Head of Commercial Business

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella is handing off some responsibilities in the midst of what he called a tectonic artificial-intelligence platform shift. Nadella on Wednesday said in a note to employees at the global technology company that Judson Althoff has been promoted to helm the company's commercial business. Althoff will also lead the company's new commercial leadership team and oversee marketing, with Chief Marketing Officer Takeshi Numoto and his team reporting directly to Althoff. The shift in responsibilities will allow Nadella to increase focus on the company's technical work. Chief Operating Officer Carolina Dybeck Happe will continue to report to Nadella while closely partnering with Jason, the memo said. "Our success depends on enabling commercial and public sector customers and partners to combine their human capital with new AI capabilities to change the frontier of how they operate," Nadella wrote. "To accelerate this, we will increasingly need to bring together sales, marketing, operations, and engineering to drive growth and strengthen our position as the partner of choice for AI transformation." Althoff has spent the past nine years leading Microsoft's global sales organization, having played a key role in developing the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions division, Nadella said. He will now oversee the operations and marketing teams that drive sales of Microsoft's software and services to businesses, though he will not manage the engineering teams that develop the products. This structure, Nadella said, will tighten feedback loops between what customers need and how the company can deliver and support them. "This will also allow our engineering leaders and me to be laser focused on our highest ambition technical work-across our datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation-to lead with intensity and pace in this generational platform shift," he wrote.