News

Elop Bolts Microsoft to Head Nokia

The head of Microsoft's Office group is jumping ship to Nokia where he will be the mobile phone maker's president and CEO.

Nokia is replacing its longtime president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the company reported. Elop was president of Microsoft's business division, which not only covered its Office product group but its Dynamics and Office Communications Server businesses.

Elop this year took a prominent role at industry events including the Microsoft Office 2010 launch, Convergence and most recently the company's Worldwide Partner Conference. But Elop was believed to be interested in taking the helm of a company, as he did at Macromedia before it was acquired by Adobe.

Before arriving at Microsoft, Elop was COO of Juniper Networks. Microsoft has not named a successor yet. Elop takes over at Nokia Sept. 21.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.