Microsoft finance chief heads off to new venture
Microsoft said Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer John Connors is leaving the company to take a job with a venture capital firm.
The company said that the 16-year Microsoft veteran would become a partner at Ignition Partners, a Seattle-area venture firm. Connors had served as CFO for the last five years and most recently had help spearhead a plan to return $75 billion to shareholders over four years, including a one-time $32 billion payout that took place last year. Connors also presided over another major shift, in 2003, when the company switched from awarding workers stock options to instead giving actual shares of restricted stock.
Connors told CNET News.com last year that paying stock dividends was the right move from a number of perspectives, including reducing Microsoft's legal liability.
"The less cash we have, the less likely we are to be a big honey pot for the single largest growth industry in the United States--the trial lawyers," Connors said. "So you can't ever make too much cash, but you can have too much cash."
Microsoft did not announce an immediate replacement, saying it would start a search, looking at both internal and external candidates. Connors will help in the transition to the new CFO, Microsoft said.
