Microsoft

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is expected to unveil a dramatic and long-awaited restructuring at the tech titan as early as Thursday, according to AllThingsD.

Ballmer is likely to realign the company around services (software) and devices, in both the consumer and business sectors. The CEO might have already laid the groundwork for that transition last year when he wrote a note to shareholders declaring that "this is really a new era for our company."

CNET has contacted Microsoft for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

The reorganization is expected to put Skype President Tony Bates in charge of acquisitions and relationships with software developers, according to a Bloomberg report last week. Windows head Julie Larson-Green is expected to oversee hardware engineering for all devices throughout the entire company -- a position for which former Microsoft gaming chief Don Mattrick was reportedly being considered before his exit a week ago to take over at troubled game maker Zynga.

Windows OS engineering would be folded into the portfolio of current Windows Phone software head Terry Myerson, while Satya Nadella, who currently heads the server business, would control a division focused on cloud computing and other enterprise products. Qi Lu, who runs the online group, would manage an engineering unit controlling Bing as well as Office and Skype engineering, according to one of Bloomberg's sources.