Belluzzo Appointed President, COO

Microsoft has promoted Rick Belluzzo to president and chief operating officer (COO), greatly expanding the role of the relative newcomer and signaling a change in Microsoft’s overall organizational structure. Belluzzo will retain his current role leading many of Microsoft’s consumer-oriented businesses, will replace current COO Bob Herbold, who is retiring, and will oversee marketing and sales functions as well. The change streamlines the senior level of management by greatly reducing the number of people directly reporting to CEO Steve Ballmer and consolidates nearly all of Microsoft’s businesses outside its traditional software development groups under a single person.

Belluzzo Keeps Current Role

A longtime friend of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Belluzzo joined Microsoft as the head of the Consumer and Commerce Group (CCG) in Sept. 1999 after a brief stint as CEO of Silicon Graphics. Prior to that, Belluzzo spent many years at Hewlett-Packard, where he helped develop the company’s highly successful printer business, among other things.