“Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday said Kevin Johnson, the executive in charge of its Windows and Web operations and an instrumental player in the company’s failed $47.5 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc., is leaving the company,” Jessica Mintz reports for The Associated Press.
MacDailyNews Take: Exits. Flees. Pushed from. Whatever.
“After a short transition, Johnson will step into the role of chief executive officer at Juniper Networks Inc., a networking hardware maker, according to a person familiar with the situation,” Mintz reports. “The person asked not to be named because Juniper had not yet announced Johnson’s appointment.”
“Johnson, who joined Microsoft in 1992, has been the public face for the company’s search and online advertising strategy, meant to help the company catch market leader Google Inc., since starting the job,” Mintz reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Good job there, Kevin. 
Mintz continues, “Over the last year, as it became clear that Microsoft’s internal search and advertising efforts were not propelling the company forward fast enough, Johnson was at Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer’s side while Microsoft attempted to buy Yahoo outright and, when that failed, to buy the Silicon Valley icon’s search operations.”
“Last week, Microsoft said its online business lost $488 million in the quarter, more than double its year-ago loss, and announced hundreds of millions of new spending to try to turn the operations around,” Mintz reports.
Full article here.
Ina Fried reports for CNET, “In a statement announcing Johnson’s departure, Ballmer praised Johnson’s contribution to the company. ‘Kevin has built a supremely talented organization and laid the foundation for the future success of Windows and our Online Services Business. This new structure will give us more agility and focus in two very competitive arenas,’ Ballmer said. ‘It has been a pleasure to work with Kevin, and we wish him well in the future.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Cue flying chair.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division (PSD) will be split into two groups: Windows/Windows Live and Online Services, with both groups reporting directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. Johnson “will work to ensure a smooth transition,” according to Microsoft’s press release.
MacDailyNews Take: Make that “chairs” (plural). As in: Cap’n Ballmer’s up on deck rearranging ’em. Again.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MrKruser” for the heads up.]
The same subject is covered in this article as well but some interesting quotes by Monkey Boy, especially in reference to Apple.
http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/080723/1_325759_id.html?.v=1
…Ballmer praised Johnson’s contribution to the company. {cue Ben Stein’s voice} ‘Kevin has built a supremely talented organization and laid the foundation for the future success of Windows and our Online Services Business. This new structure will give us more agility and focus in two very competitive arenas. It has been a pleasure to work with Kevin, and we wish him well in the future.'”
Buehler?
Buehler?
Buehler?
ms can lose 488 million???…come on…SOMEONE has to be sick over there..
M$’s problem may be… Steve Ballmer himself!
The play on words around Redmond was
“Johnson’s goin’ down…..”
…which leads back to the name..’Microsoft’.
dammit. i thought highly of juniper…. until now.
“… Microsoft … announced hundreds of millions of new spending to try to turn the operations around,”
300 to 500 million, to be exact(?), and it’s all being spent on a desperate ad campaign aiming to convince the public that Vista isn’t quite as bad as people believe it is.
Ballmer is no match for Jobs.
Jobs has Ballmer for breakfast. Excuse me, Jobs has Ballmer for a snack while he’s sleeping.
“…instrumental player in the company’s failed $47.5 billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc.”
So was he instrumental in the bid or instrumental in the failure? I wish the article were more clear.
I thought Kevin Johnson was a formal NBA player running for Mayor in Sacramento?
>Jobs has Ballmer for a snack while he’s sleeping.
SJ is vegetarian. Monkey Boy just wouldn’t taste good.
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Nice comments MDN. Looks like full steam ahead for MS. Ballmer would be wise to watch the “Titanic”.
If I were an MS stockholder I’d be wondering what the hell is going on over there in Redmond. What are they doing with my money?
Surely Kevin must be glad he’ll soon be selling hardware instead of vaporware.
@ 84 Mac Guy
You very well may be a MS stockholder. What does your retirement plan or any mutual funds you may own have invested in MS?
Scary, huh?
The only hope is that that are also invested in AAPL, and that AAPL’s gains more than offset MS’s losses.
MS lost $488 million in 3 MONTHS? Man, that’s like 2 BILLION in a year. If I had losses like that in a business I ran, I think I’d try something else. (Like making an OS that doesn’t suck.)
> If I had losses like that in a business I ran, I think I’d try something else.
You’re right Wingsy. Almost half a billion lost in a quarter…! For most businesses, you’d have to “try something else” because you would be out of business.
Only Microsoft can afford to blunder around like that. But the cash flow from Windows and Office won’t keep coming forever. That’s when the ship will sink.
I hope someone can find a video of this story. Ina Fried is always a good eye opener in the morning. I love that video from about 2 years ago where he/she/it interviews Ballmer and he just keeps staring trying to figure out just exactly what he is talking to.
Before someone puts another definition of Jobs’ eating style, let’s just make sure everyone knows that he is not a vegetarian, because he eats fish too.
There. That saved three pages.
Be fair to the guy, it’s like being in charge of PR for an overloaded sewage works.
Microsoft’s attempt to acquire or crush it’s way into an making itself an internet powerhouse has been a dismal failure. I suppose this character has something to do with it.
Seriously, who cares?
MS should focus on their crappy software and leave everyone else alone.
@John Gee:
Well, that’d make him a Pescetarian then…
In fact a lot of non-meat eaters refer to themselves as ‘vegetarian’, for the simple fact that not many people even know what a pescetarian is.
I do the same, because if I say I’m a non-meater, I get, “oh, you’re a vegetarian?” After 15 years of that I just agree and I suspect Jobs does too.
If you’ve been a corporate exec for any period of time, this move is transparent. This is Ballmy firing the guy responsible for M$’ search operations right before Ballmy has to meet with his investors on the topic. It accomplishes the following: a) allows Ballmy to turn the guy into a scapegoat for all related failures, without Johnson being around to defend himself; b) shifts the focus off of Ballmy as the culprit, while he can claim he’s taken decisive action to address the issue through this termination; c) buys Ballmy some time to fix the problem while a new exec is brought in and develops a new approach to the issue. Frankly, this looks like “CEO Survival Strategies 101”. Doesn’t mean it will automatically work, but it often does. BODs are often incompetent or coopted.
Be fair to the guy, it’s like being in charge of PR for an overloaded sewage works.
Speaking of sewer works, did anyone else see the item in the news yesterday about San Francisco having a ballot proposal this fall to change the name of their sewer works to the “George W. Bush Sewer Plant”?
Seriously folks – you cannot make this up!
This thread was running a little slow anyhow – this comment should liven things up!
@Jake
Bingo