CFO Connors Resigns

After five years as chief financial officer (CFO) and 16 years total at Microsoft, John Connors is resigning to join venture capital firm Ignition Partners. Microsoft has not yet named a replacement nor given an effective date for his resignation.

After taking over from Greg Maffei as CFO in Dec. 1999, Connors oversaw Microsoft’s transition from a fast-growing company whose stock price and profits increased dramatically every year to a slower-growing business that nonetheless generates massive amounts of cash. Although Microsoft’s stock price remains well below the all-time high reached in late 1999, the company’s cash and short-term investments increased from US$17.8 billion to US$64.4 billion during Connor’s tenure as CFO.

During the same period, Connors helped steer Microsoft through a number of difficult episodes and significant changes in operations that had an effect on the company’s finances, including the following:

• The company’s first-ever earnings warning in Dec. 2000
• A change