As Microsoft continues to shake up its internal teams with a reorganization effort that began earlier this year, another executive may be on his way out: Javier Soltero. According to a report from ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Soltero, who currently leads Microsoft's Cortana efforts, is set to leave the company by the end of the year.
Soltero originally joined Microsoft with the company's 2014 acquisition of Acompli. After heading up Outlook for several years, Soltero was moved to lead the Cortana team earlier in 2018.
According to ZDNet, news of Soltero's departure has been announced internally. Foley reports that Soltero plans go "back to doing entrepreneurial activities" after he leaves Microsoft.
The move would appear to be a part of a bigger bit of shuffling Microsoft is doing around Cortana as a whole. In October, reports indicated that Cortana has moved under the purview of the Experiences & Devices and Office teams.
The reported reshuffling of Cortana management away from the AI + Research team aligns with what my colleague, Windows Central Senior Editor Zac Bowden, reported earlier in 2018. At the time, Bowden noted that Microsoft's view of Cortana has shifted as the assistant has lost ground to Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant. Microsoft is said to be looking to repurpose much of the work it has done on Cortana, using its AI backbone across its services.
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