Bach, Allard leaving Microsoft in big shift for consumer business
Robbie Bach and J Allard, founding fathers of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division, are leaving the company as part of a broader restructuring that will give CEO Steve Ballmer more direct oversight of consumer businesses including Microsoft's struggling mobile unit.The changes -- a major management reorganization, even by Microsoft's standards -- will reshape the division leading the company's battles against Google, Apple, Sony, Nintendo and other rivals in the hard-fought consumer technology market.
Bach, 48, president of the division since its inception five years ago, isn't slated to be replaced. That will effectively dissolve the division's current structure and leave the existing Xbox and Windows Mobile leaders to report to Ballmer starting in July.
