Hadi Partovi, general manager of the MSN portal, plans to leave Microsoft to start his own company, Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said on Tuesday. He will remain with the company for a few weeks as Microsoft seeks a replacement, Gellos added.
Partovi's resignation, first reported in the Seattle Times, comes about a month after Microsoft initiated a companywide reorganisation that folded the MSN unit into the Windows division of the company.
Start-ups have lured Partovi, 32, away from Microsoft before. He left the company in 1999 to start telecommunications company Tellme after playing a central role in the browser wars against Netscape Communications at Microsoft. He rejoined Microsoft in 2002 to help shepherd several MSN initiatives including MSN Music, Microsoft's answer to Apple's iTunes music store. He also has overseen the company's Start.com news reader service.
Microsoft has confirmed other significant departures in recent weeks. Ward Cunningham, inventor of the Web pages known as wikis, left Microsoft recently to join a nonprofit dedicated to open-source software. Jim Allchin, the company's chief Windows architect, announced his retirement at the same time that Microsoft detailed its big reorganisation.
It's rumoured that a lead developer of Microsoft Office, Don Gagne, plans to leave the company in December, according to the Mini-Microsoft blog. Microsoft representatives would not immediately confirm Gagne's resignation, and Gagne did not respond to inquiries about it.
