INTERNATIONAL – Microsoft’s Javier Soltero, the company’s vice president of Cortana, will be departing by the end of the year.
His departure was first reported by ZDNet but Soltero later confirmed his departure in a tweet posted to his personal account.
1/ Some news on the work front...
I've made the decision to leave Microsoft. The past 4 years have been an incredible experience. I'm humbled to have been a part of building something that 100M+ users depend on every day and grateful to have worked with some amazing people.
— Javier Soltero 🇵🇷 (@jsoltero) November 6, 2018
ZDNet reported last month that Microsoft is moving Cortana out of its AI research division and into its Experiences and Devices team that is placed under Executive Vice President Rajesh Jha.
Soltero is reportedly heading back into the entrepreneurial space, but it’s unclear what his concrete plans are once he leaves Microsoft.
Soltero first joined Microsoft when it scooped up his email app Acompli back in late 2014 and replaced Windows chief Terry Myerson.
He and the Acompli team helped Microsoft vastly improve its Outlook iOS app. He later became the overall head of Outlook before taking on the Cortana chief role in March of this year.
His employment was made to be part of the company's renewed focus on artificial intelligence and the cloud.