Microsoft Chief Quits Unexpectedly

Rick Belluzzo, Microsoft's president and chief operating officer, has unexpectedly resigned after little more than a year in the position.

The company said it had no plans to replace Mr Belluzzo, who stepped down yesterday as the software giant announced changes that will give its main business units more autonomy.

All six main business segments will now report directly to Steve Ballmer, the current chief executive, effectively cutting out Mr Belluzzo.

Microsoft said the restructuring had nothing to do with its long-running antitrust trial. The announcement, made after markets closed, surprised many analysts, who thought Mr Belluzzo was in line to succeed Mr Ballmer.

Mr Belluzzo said the restructuring was important for the company's future growth.

"We needed to really change the orientation of the business to where business owners could not only [control] product development but also how the product goes to market and so on," he said.

Mr Belluzzo said he realised in about January that the restructuring plans would make his job redundant, and saw that as an opportunity to pursue his long-term goal of being a chief executive at a company.

Mr Belluzzo said replacing Mr Ballmer, or even the company's chairman and co-founder, Bill Gates, had never entered his mind.

"I think Bill and Steve will be around for some time ... so I never thought that was my ambition here."

Although Mr Belluzzo seemed to have a good relationship with Mr Gates and Mr Ballmer, Jonathan Geurkink, an analyst with Ragen McKenzie, said Mr Belluzzo was overshadowed by the star power of the company's long-time leaders.

"In many ways Microsoft is still Bill Gates' and Steve Ballmer's company but I think [Belluzzo] brought a critical outside perspective to the company ... He helped whip 'em into shape," Mr Geurkink said.

Before being appointed president, Mr Belluzzo focused much of his attention on the company's consumer operations, including its new Xbox game system, its MSN Messenger instant messaging system and its Ultimate TV service.

Mr Belluzzo also was instrumental early on in the company's .Net initiative for delivering a variety of services over the internet. All of these consumer-oriented projects have been the hallmark of Microsoft's efforts to become more of a consumer products company, although most of them have yet to make money.

Analysts credited Mr Belluzzo with bringing a fresh perspective to Microsoft and encouraging the company to think about different approaches, such as the current restructuring.