/dq/media/agency_attachments/UPxQAOdkwhCk8EYzqyvs.png)
Follow UsBallmer. Microsoft's former global sales chief, Kevin R Johnson, will run
Platform Products & Services, along with Windows boss James E Allchin, until
Allchin retires at the end of next year. Jeffrey S Raikes, who'll run the new
Business division, is a 24-year Microsoft hand who now runs the $11 bn
Information Worker group. Robert J Bach, chief of the Entertainment &
Devices division, most recently led the Xbox video game console business, a
money-losing group that has nevertheless leapt over industry giant Nintendo to
the No 2 spot, behind Sony Corp.
"Fewer Roadblocks"
But the four will have their work cut out changing a company with 60,000
employees. For one thing, fast-moving development teams have complained of being
saddled with the problems of slower moving ones. The next version of Windows,
dubbed Vista, for example, was hobbled by plans to include a new way to find and
store files. When that initiative faltered, the entire project got sidetracked.
In an e-mail to employees, Allchin wrote that he hopes Microsoft will have
"fewer roadblocks" in product development.
To take advantage of its strengths as it attacks several markets, the company
has instituted formal processes to coordinate those efforts. But that has often
led to endless meetings that distract workers from developing products.
Microsoft hopes to streamline that process, putting product groups that depend
on similar technology under the same organization. The question, of course, is
whether merging seven divisions into three will really trim the red tape.
Microsoft says the new chiefs know how to get things done. At this point, it's
hard to tell how much difference the reorg will make. But one thing is clear:
The company is taking steps to manage its business better.
By Jay Greene in Seattle
Platform Products & Services
Annual sales: $24.4 bn
Chiefs Jim Allchin and Kevin Johnson need to make these operations more
nimble. How? Maybe by getting the slow-moving Windows division to adopt some of
the product development mojo of new stablemate MSN.
Business
Annual sales: $11.8 bn
Jeff Raikes, the 24-year Microsoft vet who will run the new Business
division, has a couple of key tasks. Business Solutions is still digesting two
big acquisitions, while the Office franchise isn't growing as fast as it used
to.
Entertainment & Devices
Annual sales: $3.6 bn
Division boss Robbie Bach helped launch Xbox. Now he will have to make the
game-machine profitable and turn other businesses, such as Windows Mobile and
Microsoft TV, into meaningful revenue generators.