Mark Penn, other top execs leave in Microsoft shakeup

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jun 28, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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          <article>
            <header>
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                <h1>Mark Penn, other top execs leave in Microsoft shakeup</h1>
                <h2><p>Satya Nadella continues to stir the pot in Redmond. The Microsoft CEO announced this morning that "we are aligning our structure to our strategy and the changes to our Senior Leadership Team." Those leadership changes include the, um, dismissal, of four top execs: one-time Clinton political advisor Mark</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Satya Nadella continues to stir the pot in Redmond. The Microsoft CEO announced this morning that "we are aligning our structure to our strategy and the changes to our Senior Leadership Team." Those leadership changes include the, um, dismissal, of four top execs: one-time Clinton political advisor Mark Penn, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Eric Rudder and Kirill Tatarinov.</p><p>Penn, for one, has his post-Microsoft plans in place already: According to <a href="http://www.geekwire.com/2015/mark-penn-leaving-microsoft-raises-250m-for-new-venture-with-steve-ballmer-as-core-investor/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">GeekWire</a>, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer — a fellow Harvard alum who brought Penn to Microsoft in 2012 — will become a “core investor” in Penn’s new investment advisory company, The Stagwell Group LLC, which has already amassed $250 million.</p>
          </article>

Satya Nadella continues to stir the pot in Redmond. The Microsoft CEO announced this morning that "we are aligning our structure to our strategy and the changes to our Senior Leadership Team." Those leadership changes include the, um, dismissal, of four top execs: one-time Clinton political advisor Mark Penn, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, Eric Rudder and Kirill Tatarinov.

Penn, for one, has his post-Microsoft plans in place already: According to GeekWire, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer — a fellow Harvard alum who brought Penn to Microsoft in 2012 — will become a “core investor” in Penn’s new investment advisory company, The Stagwell Group LLC, which has already amassed $250 million.

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,