Head In The Clouds, Ballmer Pushes STB Head Muglia Out After 23 Years At Microsoft

Lundi, 10 Janvier 2011 19:14

Head In The Clouds, Ballmer Pushes STB Head Muglia Out After 23 Years At Microsoft

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One of Microsoft’s core strengths is their Server and Tools Business (STB). In fact, it’s a $15 billion a year business for the giant. CEO Steve Ballmer cited that number today in an email to employees announcing the departure of the head of that division, Bob Muglia.

So why is Muglia leaving such a

successful endeavor he built? Because Ballmer decided it was time for a change.

“The best time to think about change is when you are in a position of strength, and that’s where we are today with STB – leading the server business, successful with our developer tools, and poised to lead the rapidly emerging cloud future,” Ballmer writes. “Bob Muglia and I have been talking about the overall business and what is needed to accelerate our growth. In this context, I have decided that now is the time to put new leadership in place for STB,” he continues.

Translation: it’s time to get serious about the cloud before it’s too late.

Not surprisingly, rather than accept a demotion, Muglia will leave Microsoft. That will happen this summer, Ballmer says.

Actually, it is a little surprising because Muglia had been demoted before within the company — but worked his way back in 2009. As we noted two years ago:

Capping a comeback from a demotion in the wake of Hailstorm’s failure to survive a privacy challenge led by bloggers, Server and Tools senior VP Bob Muglia was promoted to President of the Microsoft group. Muglia now commands a Microsoft unit with some 22% of the company’s $60 billion in revenue.

That promotion put Muglia in a “Gang of Four,” as we wrote at the time. That include a power combination of Entertainment chief Robbie Bach, Office Business czar Stephen Elop, and Online Services Group head Qi Lu. All but one of those men (Lu, who had just joined) is now gone from Microsoft just two years later.

You may recall that Muglia got himself in a bit of hot water in the press once again a few months ago when comments he made suggested that one technology he was in charge of, Silverlight, was being pushed out in favor of technologies like HTML5. The backlash was fast and furious and Microsoft had to respond, and backtrack.

“[Muglia] will continue to actively run STB as I conduct an internal and external search for the new leader. Bob will onboard the new leader and will also complete additional projects for me,” Ballmer writes.