Microsoft’s VP of U.S. advertising sales Keith Lorizio is out.

Since I am busy trying to figure out what is up with a bigger job at the software giant, here are the two internal memos from inside the company on the sudden departure of Lorizio, who came to Microsoft in 2006. The unit’s big staff meeting is in Phoenix into two weeks — which should be interesting.

The first is from Frank Holland, the corporate VP for Microsoft’s Advertising and Online businesses; the second is from Eric Dahlberg, the director of U.S. network & exchange sales for Microsoft Advertising

From: Frank Holland

Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 2:45 PM

To: A&O US Sales FTE

Cc: Barry Dougan; Frank Holland Direct Reports

Subject: A&O US Sales Leadership Announcement Team, I am writing to inform you that Keith Lorizio is no longer with Microsoft. I would like to thank Keith for his leadership and contribution to the US Sales team, and his role in building up a sales org with such extraordinary talent and potential over the last 8 years. I have begun a search for a new VP of US Sales. In the interim, I have asked Barry Dougan to step in and lead the A&O US Sales team. I have tremendous amount of confidence in all of you and know each of you will continue to do great work for our customers and each other. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me, Barry or your managers if you have questions. I look forward to seeing you at NSM. Thanks, Frank

From: Eric Dahlberg

Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 2:49 PM

To: A&O US Specialist Sales FTE

Cc: Keith Lorizio Direct Reports; Barry Dougan; Katrin Yeager

Subject: FW: A&O US Sales Leadership Announcement Hey gang, Over the past eight and a half years Microsoft Advertising has seen a lot of churn. One of the few constants over that time has been Keith and his leadership of the US org. And with that in mind I understand that today’s news may come as a bit of a surprise. So let’s take a moment today to appreciate Keith for his service to Microsoft, his friendship, and all of his efforts over the years (much of it behind the scenes) on behalf of our team and our customers. And then let’s start moving on. I connected with Keith this morning and that’s certainly what he would like. This team has gotten good at dealing with change, and I know this won’t slow us down. We should all be thrilled that Barry is available to provide leadership for our org on an interim basis. Barry knows our business and obviously knows our Specialist team, in particular. Keith’s leads are already digging in with Barry and Frank and we’re looking forward to a great National Sales Meeting the week after next. Each of the Specialist leads has scheduled or will schedule an optional call to talk through today’s events. I am going to try to join as many of them as I can, but I hope you won’t hesitate to reach out directly if there is anything on your mind that you would like to chat about. Eric