by CIO Staff

Microsoft Germany CEO Resigns Over Issues With HQ

News
Oct 09, 20062 mins
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The head of Microsoft’s German subsidiary, one of the group’s largest, has thrown in the towel over differences with the U.S. headquarters.

Jurgen Gallmann, chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft Deutschland and vice president of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), resigned Friday and will be replaced immediately by Klaus Holse Andersen, current vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions and Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partner Group, Microsoft said.

Anderson will report directly to Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International.

Gallmann asked to be released from his contract due to differences in views about the future strategy of Microsoft Germany, the company said.

German newspapers, including Financial Times Deutschland and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, have obtained a copy of an e-mail sent by Gallmann to Microsoft’s German employees in which the executive complained of the group’s world headquarters in Redmond, Wash., imposing increasing restrictions on the German operations and showing little interest in local requirements.

A spokesman for the German subsidiary declined to comment.

A former manager with IBM, Gallmann joined Microsoft in 2002 and, in addition to his German and EMEA responsibilities, also became a member of the senior leadership team of the sales, marketing and services group.

Under his direction, the German subsidiary increased its workforce from about 1,500 to more than 2,000.

-John Blau, IDG News Service (Dusseldorf Bureau)

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