Veteran Microsoft analyst leaving Goldman

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Rick Sherlund, a Goldman Sachs partner and veteran software analyst who has covered Microsoft since it went public, plans to leave the Wall Street firm to work in money management, a news report said Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sherlund has decided to leave the firm that gave him a front-row view of Microsoft's rise from start-up to the world's largest software maker.

The report said that Sherlund wants try investing but plans to stay on at Goldman, where he is a managing director, as he considers jobs on the "buy side" on Wall Street. He will have a year to make the transition, according to the report.

"I'm really focused on managing money," Sherlund was quoted as saying. "As an analyst it's terrifically rewarding but you're very narrowly focused. I'd like to focus more broadly and have the ability to make some real stock calls."

Sherlund, 52, is weighing whether to start his own fund. But "most likely I'll go work with someone else to gain some experience in the money-management side," he said in an interview, the report said.

Sherlund started covering Microsoft (Charts) in 1986, the year it went public, and became well known on Wall Street for tracking its growth from start-up to 800-pound gorilla of software.

Over the years, he also covered the many up-and-comers - from Netscape Communications to Google Inc (Charts). - that pressured Microsoft, and he outlasted many of the managers that guided Microsoft, including a string of its chief financial officers.

The slew of companies competing with Microsoft has of course grown over the years, and now includes Yahoo (Charts), Oracle (Charts),IBM (Charts) and Novell (Charts).

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