The post-Ballmer Microsoft is slowly taking shape now that Satya Nadella has become the company’s CEO. At the same time, though, those executives who were passed over for the CEO role and those who lost power in last year’s reorganization are starting to leave the company. The latest executive to depart, Re/Code reports today, is Antoine Leblond. A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed to us that Leblond is, indeed, leaving the company.
Re/Code cites an internal email from Leblond in which he announces his departure. In it, Leblond writes that “after almost 25 years, I’ve decided it’s time for me to go out and see what the non-Microsoft world has to offer” and stresses that he “will never look back on all of these years with anything but fondness, pride in what we’ve accomplished together, and a real appreciation for having been lucky enough to be part of so many awesome things.”
Leblond was Microsoft’s Vice President for Windows Web Services, which put him in charge of quite a number of Microsoft products, including the Windows 8 store and the ecosystem around it, after previously working on Microsoft’s Office suite for a good 20 years. After Steven Sinofsky moved from the Office team to the Windows team to work in Windows 7, Leblond led the development of Office 2010. He then followed Sinofsky to the Windows group.
When Microsoft announced its large reorganization last year summer, many pundits were surprised that Leblond was nowhere to be found in the company’s leadership list.
After Sinofsky left Microsoft, Leblond was often the public face of Windows 8. With Microsoft’s BUILD developer conference kicking off on Wednesday, many expected him to reprise this role, so the timing of his departure was likely meant to preempt any speculation at BUILD.