Software giant Microsoft announced a long-awaited restructuring on Thursday, organizing itself around key areas designed to make the company more nimble in a fiercely-competitive technology sector.
The company said it will deliver multiple devices and services as a single company, rather than a collection of separate divisions, after completing its first major overhaul in five years
As part of the reorganization, Microsoft announced the president of its Microsoft Office division, Kurt DelBene, will be retiring. Early media reports suggested that many in the executive suite were nervous about the impending change.
Microsoft's last major reorganization was in July 2008, when Chief Executive Steve Ballmer split the company's 'Platforms & Services Division' into three separate units - Windows, Online Services and Server and Tools. The reorganization process is expected to last through the end of the calendar year as Microsoft aims to "figure things out" the company said.
In a release, Ballmer said the realignment would make Microsoft "innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capability in a fast-changing world," while helping the company "execute even better" in creating devices and services.
The company's move comes as traditional computers are increasingly taking a backseat to mobile devices, and the applications that support them. As consumers migrate to tablets and smartphones, Microsoft has struggled to keep pace with the other top dogs in the technology sector like Google and Apple, and lacks a coherent mobile strategy.
Microsoft's restructuring centers around beefing up strategy dedicated primarily to operating systems, applications, cloud computing and devices. According to a communique, the new reorganization gives Microsoft's advertising, marketing and media apparatus more authority.
As part of its push into the brave new world of mobile, the company named Julie Larson-Green as head of devices and studios engineering group, overseeing areas such as hardware development, games, music and entertainment. Terry Myerson will head up Microsoft's operating systems and engineering group, which includes Windows.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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