Microsoft COO jumps ship

Kevin Turner has ended his 11-year stint as chief operating officer for Microsoft and is moving to become CEO of financial firm Citadel Securities.

Turner was one of the most reviled senior managers at Redmond and his departure has been expected for some time. He was hired by Steve Ballmer from Walmart, where he spent 20 years honing his skills, and – like the former Microsoft CEO – was a louder-than-life figure.

But what made Turner such a hated figure at Microsoft was his introduction of score carding – a system he brought over from Walmart where employees rank each other on their output. Since this is tied directly to bonuses, it led to a poisonous political atmosphere in the company and is cited by many as the worst thing about working for the software giant.

"Turner and Ballmer created a political environment where Microsoft staff were constantly knifing each other to get a better personal stack ranking and climb to the top," one Redmond watcher told us.

"This also resulted in change for the sake of change in numerous as opposed to sensible roadmaps and more thought through plans."

CEO Satya Nadella said Turner's responsibilities will be farmed out to five different executives and the COO role will no longer be part of the management team. ®