Microsoft says product chief Panay to leave

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) – Microsoft (NASDAQ:)’s Yusuf Mehdi, who oversees its consumer marketing efforts, is taking over the firm’s Surface and Windows businesses with the external PC makers and retail partners as longtime product chief Panos Panay steps down.

Microsoft also said that Pavan Davuluri will lead a hardware engineering team that includes Microsoft’s efforts to develop its own chips, according to a staff email on Monday by Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of experiences and devices group at Microsoft. Reuters has seen a copy of the email.

Microsoft has made big bets on generative AI, integrating the technology into a wide array of its products, including cloud, search and productivity software and services such as its Office suite.

The rejigging of teams comes as Panay steps down after nearly 20 years with the Redmond, Washington-based company, where he helmed the creation of the Surface line of computers and more recently oversaw the launch of the Windows 11 operating system.

The company is hosting a “special event” on Sept. 21, where it is expected to announce updates to its Surface lineup, among other updates.

(This story has been corrected to say Yusuf Mehdi will lead the Windows teams and Pavan Davuluri will lead a hardware team, not a team focused on Windows software, in the headline and paragraphs 1 and 2)