Rajesh Jha, who led Microsoft's biggest consumer and business products as executive vice president of the Experiences and Devices group, plans to retire later this year after more than 35 years at the company. The announcement arrives as Microsoft continues a wave of departures at its most senior levels, creating what observers see as a deliberate reshaping of how power flows through the technology giant.
Here's what stands out about this move: rather than parachute in an external leader or promote a single successor, Microsoft is distributing Jha's authority across four executives now reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella. Perry Clarke will oversee Microsoft 365 core infrastructure; Charles Lamanna will lead business and industry Copilot; Pavan Davuluri will run Windows and Devices; and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky will take the Office division. This is a flattening strategy, pure and simple. It removes a layer of management and accelerates decision-making on products that form the company's financial backbone.
Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue increased 17% and accounted for over 30% of overall sales in the December quarter. Under Jha's stewardship, these units have become the company's most reliable profit engine. The risk with any leadership transition in a portfolio this valuable is momentum loss. Nadella's answer is to keep the chain of command shorter and tighter.
Jha will formally step down on 1 July, then stay on in an advisory capacity. Satya and I have been working on succession for some time, Jha noted in an internal memo, suggesting this was not a rushed decision. Additional promotions accompany the move: Jeff Teper, who leads collaboration apps including SharePoint and Teams, is being promoted to EVP, and Sumit Chauhan and Kirk Koenigsbauer are being promoted to president.
What this reorganisation reveals is how Nadella has gradually reoriented Microsoft's leadership model. The departures come as Nadella reshapes the company's leadership structure around a broader group of direct reports, with a focus on AI and Copilot as top priorities. This is Microsoft's third major executive exit in three months: Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced his retirement in February after 38 years at the company, and security leader Charlie Bell shifted from his EVP role to an individual contributor position.
Nadella's praise for Jha in internal communications hints at the scale of what the company is losing. From our earliest days working together, I have admired his unwavering commitment to his team, to our customers, to the products we build, and to the company. I have always been struck by his operational rigor, his ability to make the hard strategic calls, lead through the grind, and emerge stronger on the other side.
The transition underscores a pattern: instead of replacing executives with a single heir, Nadella is creating tighter reporting lines that give him more direct control of product strategy. It's a consolidation play dressed up as an evolutionary step. Whether the new structure can maintain the momentum Jha built in enterprise cloud remains the real test.