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Microsoft names new prez
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February 14, 2001: 2:46 p.m. ET
Belluzzo to succeed Herbold as president and chief operating officer
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LONDON (CNN) - Microsoft Corp. named Rick Belluzzo president and chief operating officer Wednesday, replacing its retiring COO.
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VIDEO
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 Rick Belluzzo, Microsoft's new president and chief operating officer chats with CNNfn about his new position. |
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Belluzzo, a veteran Hewlett Packard executive who was CEO of Silicon Graphics before joining Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) in September 1999, succeeds Bob Herbold, 58, who will continue to work for the firm part-time.
Belluzzo, 47, formerly was Microsoft's group vice president of its personal services and devices group. As COO, he will be in charge of guiding the company's business strategy, directing operations, sales, and marketing, and developing its non-PC businesses.
 Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, saw several departures from its senior executive ranks last year, including Nathan Myhrvold, former chief technology officer, who left in May and 14-year veteran, Paul Maritz, a former group vice president, who left in September.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, said Belluzzo's experience provides him with the ability "to create effective organizations, manage a diverse set of products and businesses, and make the tough decisions that will keep Microsoft moving forward on our priorities."
In an exclusive interview with CNNfn Wednesday, Belluzzo said his taking responsibility for the day-to-day operations at Microsoft will free up Ballmer to spend more time on Microsoft's more strategic business planning. (164K WAV) or (164K AIFF)
Key to the Redmond, Wash.-based company's plans are what executives are calling the ".NET" strategy. Microsoft's Windows operating system software currently powers the vast majority of the world's desktop computers. But the company has been steering the business toward a more "platform agnostic" approach.
With the .NET strategy, Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) is aiming to extend its reach by designing software products that can be used on any computing platform and on any device, not necessarily a Windows-based PC.
 On Tuesday, Microsoft gave the public its first glimpse at an upcoming product it expects to play a big part in the new direction of the company when it unveiled its Windows XP operating system. That software, which has been designed with more emphasis on multimedia features such as Web publishing and streaming audio and video, is expected to hit the market in the latter half of this year.
Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and co-founder, last year stepped down as the firm's CEO, opting instead for the moniker "chief software architect."
Microsoft shares fell 38 cents to $57.81 in afternoon Nasdaq trade Wednesday. At that level, they were 49.7 percent below a 12-month high of $115. 
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