Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella during Monday disclosed a leadership shake-up at the technology giant that was inclusive of a new head for the Xbox division.

In an email to Microsoft employees, Mr Nadella also formalised the role for former Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, saying he would head the Microsoft Devices Group when the deal for the Finnish group's handset business closes by the end of April.

Mr Nadella said he had promoted Mr Scott Guthrie, the acting chief for cloud and enterprise, to executive vice-president, "where he will continue to lead and drive the organisation". The chief executive said Mr Guthrie "has been a very public and passionate evangelist for many of our most important developer and infrastructure businesses" and has made key contributions to "pivotal technologies that help power the Microsoft ecosystem today".

Mr Nadella added that Mr Phil Spencer was named "to take on a new role leading Xbox, combining the Xbox and Xbox Live development teams with the Microsoft Studios team. Combining all their software, gaming and content assets across the Xbox team under a single leader... will help guarantee that they continue to do great work across the Xbox business, at the same time bring more of the magic of Xbox to all form factors, including tablets, PCs and phones.

(AW:SB)