Microsoft has tapped LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky for a dual role leading Microsoft Office and M365 Copilot as the tech company looks to dominate in the enterprise productivity space. Roslansky will continue to serve as LinkedIn CEO, reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, as he takes on his new role as EVP of Office under EVP Rajesh Jha. He announced the promotion on LinkedIn. The popular social and recruiting platform for enterprise professionals has steadily increased its revenues and launched new AI-powered products under Roslansky’s leadership, and Microsoft’s move reflects its intent to go all-in on AI. “LinkedIn has been especially successful at building and extending products over time,” said Hyoun Park, CEO and chief analyst at Amalgam Insights. “There is no doubt that Microsoft wants to bring that expertise to  Microsoft 365, especially in the adoption of Copilot.” Successful product leader turned CEO Roslansky will now oversee Office M365 productivity software, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Microsoft’s AI assistant, M365 Copilot, which launched in 2020, will also be under his purview. Roslansky has spent 16 years at LinkedIn, five of those as its CEO. Previously, he was SVP of products and content at Glam Media, and general manager and product manager at Yahoo. Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $27 billion in 2016, and in his LinkedIn post, Roslansky called it “one of Microsoft’s most successful acquisitions.” The platform for connecting business professionals achieved $16.37 billion in revenues in 2024, up from $14.9 billion in 2022. LinkedIn has launched numerous AI products in recent years, including AI-assisted messaging, search, and projects, automated follow-ups, gauging candidate likelihood of interest, and resumé search. “Roslansky is a successful product leader turned CEO of a subsidiary company,” said Jeremy Roberts, senior director of research and content at Info-Tech Research Group. “He has a good track record of growing LinkedIn’s revenue year-over-year and largely keeping the platform out of trouble.” Roberts noted that his product bona fides will be “especially useful” as Microsoft figures out how to fit Copilot into its broader product offerings and consolidate its AI strategy between divisions. Amalgam Insights’ Park pointed out that every enterprise application vendor “desperately” wants to own the business AI usage market, and Microsoft is looking to increase the amount of screen time users have with Office 365. “Roslansky‘s success in building LinkedIn as a platform demonstrates the potential to have similar success with 365,” he said. Redefining Microsoft and LinkedIn In his LinkedIn post, Roslansky called Microsoft Office “one of the most iconic product suites in history” that has “shaped how the world works, literally.” He noted that he is coming into the role in “a new, exciting era where productivity, connection, and AI are converging at scale.” “Both Office and LinkedIn are used daily by professionals globally, and I’m looking forward to redefining ourselves in this new world,” he wrote. Roberts noted that pushing deeper integration between its product lines and de-duplicating development efforts is probably also part of Microsoft’s motive for the hire. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be all sorts of Microsoft Office features natively built into LinkedIn, such as the ability to ask Copilot to build a slideshow in PowerPoint from within LinkedIn, but he believes we could see some rationalization of back-end platforms and services. “LinkedIn has operated quite independently, so this could be part of a broader effort to fold it in, realize some efficiencies, and further Microsoft’s AI ambitions,” said Roberts. On the other hand, it could also be a circumstance where Microsoft had a product in need of a leader, and a successful product leader looking to expand his portfolio. Roberts also emphasized that being in charge of Microsoft Office and M365 Copilot is not the same as being in charge of Microsoft 365, which includes enterprise mobility and security, Windows 11, and a number of other applications. “So it’s both big news and a relatively minor shakeup, depending on what Nadella intends with this move,” said Roberts.