Microsoft 1/Juniper 1
Microsoft announced yesterday that Kevin Johnson, President of Platforms and Services, is leaving the company to take the CEO spot at Juniper Networks. In and of itself, the news isn’t that interesting. One company loses a president, another gains a CEO. But I find it interesting because merely 8 months ago Microsoft was able to lure away Stephen Elop, Juniper’s COO, to take the position of President of the Microsoft Business Division. Maybe the papers have bad memories, but in the articles I’ve read, it seems that few ever mention the fact that Elop was taken from Juniper first. It seems that we have some tit for tat going on. I wonder if the two companies, which by the way are in very different industries (hardware vs. software), will continue to swap executives.
As an aside, Scott Kriens, Juniper’s former CEO, will stay on as Chairman of the Board.
Some have speculated that Johnson is leaving the company because Microsoft failed to close the deal on buying Yahoo. I have no idea, but that sounds reasonable to me.