Microsoft's Office Head Plans to Retire

01.11.08

by Reuters

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that Jeff Raikes, the head of its $16 billion Office software business, would retire later this year and be replaced by Juniper Networks Inc Chief Operating Officer Stephen Elop.

Raikes, 49 and once seen as the No. 3 executive at Microsoft, will leave the company in September while Elop plans to join as the president of Microsoft's business division at the end of January.

Elop, 44, joined Juniper a year ago from design software company Adobe Systems Inc. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive of Macromedia—known for its Flash media player—which was acquired by Adobe in 2005.

Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981, recruited from Apple Inc by Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive. He has spearheaded Microsoft's move from its earliest productivity software to the successful Office franchise and, most recently, its entry into Internet-based communications.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2248096,00.asp