Microsoft announces consolidation of its Gulf operations

The new subsidiary, which will be headquartered in Dubai, will enable Microsoft to further strengthen customer and partner services in the key markets by increasing focus and through dedicating more field as well as specialized resources to the Arabian Gulf.

Ali Faramawy, Vice President, Microsoft EMEA commented: "The best time to make a change is when things are going well, this allows you to look at the future, assess your alternatives and strategies without pressure or panic. These two subsidiaries had phenomenal results in the last few years, so this change is driven primarily by the potential opportunities that the synergies between the Gulf countries bring to us."

"Grouping these two regions allows Microsoft to create a much stronger Gulf operation, enabling us to make more specialized resources and expertise available to our customers and partners while also retaining the breadth of our presence in the region. Microsoft already has the largest local direct presence of any major IT multinational in the Middle East, and now we are looking to strengthen that presence even further," he added.

Coinciding with this move, Microsoft announced new senior roles for a number of its key employees in the region; Abdullatif Al Mulla, General Manager of Microsoft South Gulf, will move into a new expanded role as General Manager, Strategic Business Development for Gulf and Pakistan. Samer Abu-Ltaif, General Manager of Microsoft North Gulf has been promoted to the role of Regional Director of the Enterprise and Partner Group for Microsoft Middle East and Africa; while Charbel Fakhoury, the current General Manager of Microsoft Eastern Mediterranean will take on the role of General Manager, Microsoft Gulf.

Microsoft will retain the existing network of Microsoft offices in all the Gulf countries, and will soon appoint a new General Manager for its East Mediterranean subsidiary, as well as a Country Manager for its Kuwait operation.

"I am very excited and confident that Abdullatif, Charbel and Samer will bring great value to our customers and partners in the region with their new expanded roles," Faramawy said.