By Jordan Novet
Publication Date: 2026-03-12 17:00:00
Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of experiences and devices at Microsoft Corp., speaks at the Microsoft Build event in Seattle, Washington, US, on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. The event allows attendees to grow their skills in topics such as building copilots, generative AI, securing applications, cloud platforms, and low-code.
Chona Kasinger | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft said Thursday that Rajesh Jha, the software vendor’s highest-ranking executive supervising Office, is retiring in July after more than 35 years at the company.
Jha’s departure is a significant loss for Microsoft as the company tries to both collaborate and compete with generative artificial intelligence model developers Anthropic and OpenAI, and comes less than a month after Microsoft announced the retirement of longtime gaming chief Phil Spencer.
Under Jha, Microsoft has incorporated models from the two hyper-growth startups into the 365 Copilot add-on for widely used Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions….
