Bruce Jaffe bails from Microsoft

Redmond, and just about everyone else is abuzz with another high level executive leaving Microsoft. Fortunately this time it is not because of a “sex scandal” rather rumor has him going to start his own startup after being Microsoft’s deal maker for years.

Bruce Jaffe, who oversees Microsoft’s acquisitions as its vice president of corporate development, is leaving the company, as first reported by tech gossip site Valleywag. Bloomberg News says his departure comes “as the company moves to give individual unit leaders more control over deals.” Todd Bishop

Of course his plans are not being discussed, but the idea of giving individual unit managers more control over upcoming deals should be interesting to see.

How does an individual unit manager know what is a good deal and how it will fit into the bigger Microsoft system? While it is good for the unit managers, the continuity of the company as a whole might suffer if there is not a unified purchasing department for Microsoft in regards to what companies it buys. There will probably be some dud deals in the making on this one.

This ought to have an interesting influence on Microsoft stock and how stock holders regard this one on the market today and going into the future. We sincerely hope that there will be a corporate face to provide some solid support for those individual unit managers.