Microsoft Hires Ex-Uber and Google Exec to Lead Consumer Apps

Microsoft has recruited Manik Gupta, Uber’s former product chief, as its new Corporate Vice President for Teams Consumer, Skype, and GroupMe.

Based in San Francisco, Gupta will begin his role on August 30 and lead the teams responsible for several of Microsoft’s consumer apps.

He brings a wealth of consumer app experience, including his most recent role at Uber. Prior to that, he was Google’s Director of Product Management for Maps, Local & Google My Business. While at Google he also led the acquisition of Waze and managed the integration between the Google Maps and Waze teams.

After leaving Uber in 2020, Gupta co-founded CVKey, a non-profit organization aimed at helping communities reopen responsibly from COVID-19. He also has served as an advisor to several startups.

In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, CVP of Microsoft 365 Jeff Teper stated “Over the last few years, we have partnered across the company to grow Microsoft Teams to over a quarter billion users and the launch of Teams for Life in May is helping us connect many more people in their personal lives. But we have a much bigger opportunity ahead. I am energized by the increased progress and investment across Microsoft in our consumer experiences – Xbox, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Edge, Bing, and much more. This fall Windows 11 – with Microsoft Teams – represents one of the most important milestones for us to delight users and grow our consumer business.”

Alongside Gupta’s hire, Teper also revealed that Rohit Wad will assume responsibility for engineering and will report to Manik.