This past July, Microsoft’s Business Development lead, Peggy Johnson, left the company to become CEO at Magic Leap. Today, the company has announced her replacement, former CEO of McAfee, Christopher Young. Young will report directly to CEO Satya Nadella, he will be ” responsible for developing Microsoft’s global business development strategies that drive growth across the company,” including leading strategic partnership opportunities, venture investments, and alliances and joint ventures.
Young led McAfee’s move out of Intel in 2017, and previously has held senior leadership positions at Cisco, VMware, RSA and AOL. According to Nadella, “the next decade of economic growth will be defined by the digital investments made today. With Chris’ leadership, the Business Development team will continue to be a key accelerant for our partnerships and new growth opportunities.”
Microsoft’s last big splash in acquisition news was the news that it was attempting to acquire TikTok, which didn’t pan out. It will be interesting to see if the pace for new acquisitions quickens with this new hire.
