Microsoft shuffles structure

Microsoft yesterday announced the biggest restructuring in its near 40-year history, in a bid to break up fiefdoms and create more company unity.

The software giant is doing away with separate divisions based on products such as Windows, Office and XBox and reorganizing around functions such as engineering, marketing and business development.

“We are rallying behind a single strategy as one company — not a collection of divisional strategies,” CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement.

The shakeup was viewed by some as an act of desperation from a company that couldn’t reinvigorate its brand with a mobile push into smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft’s Windows 8 mobile software and Surface tablet fell flat last year.

The stock, which yesterday rose 2.84 percent, to $35.69, has been trading in the same range for longer than a decade.

The reorganization mimics those of rivals like Apple and Google, which have embraced more streamlined structures.

But for investors who had hoped for even bigger changes, breaking up the software behemoth or spinning off laggards like Bing now seems less likely.

Moreover, Ballmer appears more entrenched in the top spot he has held since 2000, as there are fewer division heads running their own businesses, according to some observers.