After speculation about Microsoft"s choice for its new chief financial officer hit the Internet earlier today, the company has now confirmed it has named Amy Hood as its pick to succeed Peter Klein as Microsoft"s head CFO. Klein is still expected to depart Microsoft at the end of June but Hood will become the new CFO effective immediately.
Hood will be the first woman to become the lead CFO of Microsoft in the company"s history. She first joined Microsoft in 2002 and before today was the CFO for the company"s Business division, which includes its Office software products and services. Microsoft"s press release says that Hood played a key role in Microsoft"s acquisitions of Skype in 2011 and Yammer in 2012.
Hood is quoted in the press release as saying:
I"m excited to step into this role and look forward to working closely again with our investors and shareholders. Peter has built a world-class finance team, and I am set up well to continue the company’s strong discipline around costs and focus on driving shareholder value.
Earlier today, a Bloomberg story said that Hood and Windows CFO Tami Reller were the top two contenders for Klein"s job. It"s possible that Microsoft wanted to keep Reller in her current job in order for her to help lead Microsoft"s plans for a major update to Windows 8 later this year.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft