Christopher Young, executive vice chairman of business development at Microsoft Corp., speaks throughout the GeekWire Summit in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. The GeekWire Summit brings together business, tech and community leaders for discussions in regards to the future.
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Microsoft‘s head of business development Chris Young, who helped orchestrate the software giant’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, is resigning from his post after about 4 years on the job, the corporate said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. No successor was named.
Young joined Microsoft in 2020 after almost three years as CEO of McAfee, where he ran the hassle to separate the corporate from Intel. Previously, he held executive positions at Cisco and RSA.
At Microsoft, Young sat on the corporate’s senior leadership team alongside CEO Satya Nadella and finance chief Amy Hood. He reported to Nadella. As one among the best paid Microsoft employees, Young received $12 million in total compensation within the 2024 fiscal 12 months, in line with a filing.
Young’s organization included the M12 corporate enterprise capital unit, which has invested in startups like Innovaccer, Outreach, PsiQuantum, Skedulo and Typeface. In 2023, M12 said that going forward, it will work more closely with Microsoft to raised assist portfolio firms.
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision, its largest deal ever, closed in 2023. Young also played a job in Microsoft’s expansion of its partnership with artificial intelligence startup OpenAI and its ad take care of Netflix.
Young, some of the outstanding Black executives at Microsoft, “provided thought leadership on the importance of diversity and inclusion within the technology industry,” the corporate said in a 2023 filing.
While Microsoft hasn’t made any recent comments about its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, there was a broader industry rollback since President Donald Trump’s reelection in November. Amazon said it’s halting a few of its DEI programs, and Meta’s are being canceled.
In December, Microsoft’s chief diversity officer said the corporate’s work in the world was “more essential than ever.”
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