Microsoft has named Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff as chief executive of its commercial business, the company said on Wednesday in a blog post.
Chief Executive Satya Nadella wrote that the move will allow him to concentrate more on technical areas, including datacentre buildout, systems architecture, artificial intelligence research and product innovation.
Althoff will lead a newly formed commercial organisation that unites sales, marketing and operations. He will also head a new commercial leadership team, which includes executives from engineering, sales, marketing, operations and finance.
In the blog post, Nadella said: “We are in the midst of a tectonic AI platform shift, one that requires us to both manage and grow our at-scale commercial business today, while building the new frontier and executing flawlessly across both.”
Nadella described the reorganisation as necessary to keep himself and engineering leaders “laser focused on our highest ambition technical work – across our datacenter buildout, systems architecture, AI science, and product innovation.”
The restructuring reflects Microsoft’s efforts to expand its capabilities in artificial intelligence, following its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI and the rollout of Copilot features in Microsoft 365, Windows and Azure.
Althoff’s career at Microsoft
Althoff joined Microsoft in 2013 as president of Microsoft North America. In 2021, Microsoft brought together its global sales and marketing organisation with its worldwide commercial business under his leadership. CNBC reported that Althoff has overseen Microsoft’s unified sales and marketing operations since that time.
According to Reuters, Althoff’s new role gives him responsibility for managing Microsoft’s commercial operations worldwide at a time when cloud computing and AI services are the company’s main growth drivers.
Last month, Microsoft said it would combine its separate marketplaces for artificial intelligence tools into one platform called Microsoft Marketplace. The company previously ran one marketplace for developer tools on Azure and another for applications and “agents” designed to perform tasks for users inside apps. Bloomberg reported that the consolidation is intended to streamline offerings for enterprise customers.
Microsoft reported double-digit growth in its commercial cloud revenue in its most recent quarter, led by demand for Azure and AI services. The Wall Street Journal noted that cloud and AI products are now central to Microsoft’s revenue expansion, accounting for a growing share of its overall business.
Microsoft’s restructuring comes as large technology firms adjust leadership and business structures to compete in artificial intelligence. Reuters reported that Google, Amazon and other competitors are also reorganising teams and reallocating resources toward AI-driven products and services.