Panos Panay Announces Departure from Microsoft Days Before Surface Event ⇥ reuters.com

Stephen Nellis, Reuters:

Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi, who oversees its consumer marketing efforts, is taking over the firm’s Surface and Windows businesses with the external PC makers and retail partners, as longtime product chief Panos Panay steps down.

Bloomberg reported that Panay is being hired by Amazon.com to run the unit responsible for the firm’s Alexa and Echo products, replacing David Limp, the unit’s current chief who has said he plans to retire this year.

Just a few weeks ago, Panay tweeted about his excitement to be “talking AI innovation” at Microsoft’s press conference on September 21. As of Friday, it seems that tweet was deleted. Bizarre timing.