Microsoft‘s head of business development Chris Young, who helped orchestrate the software giant’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, is resigning from his post after about four years on the job, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. No successor was named.

Young joined Microsoft in 2020 after almost three years as CEO of McAfee, where he ran the effort to separate the company from Intel. Previously, he held executive positions at Cisco and RSA.

At Microsoft, Young sat on the company’s senior leadership team alongside CEO Satya Nadella and finance chief Amy Hood. He reported to Nadella. As one of the highest paid Microsoft employees, Young received $12 million in total compensation in the 2024 fiscal year, according to a filing.

Young’s organization included the M12 corporate venture capital unit, which has invested in startups like Innovaccer, Outreach, PsiQuantum, Skedulo and Typeface. In 2023, M12 said that going forward, it would work more closely with Microsoft to better assist portfolio companies.

Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision, its largest deal ever, closed in 2023. Young also played a role in Microsoft’s expansion of its partnership with artificial intelligence startup OpenAI and its ad deal with Netflix.

Young, one of the most prominent Black executives at Microsoft, “provided thought leadership on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the technology industry,” the company said in a 2023 filing.

While Microsoft hasn’t made any recent comments about its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, there has been a broader industry rollback since President Donald Trump’s reelection in November. Amazon said it’s halting some of its DEI programs, and Meta’s are being canceled.

In December, Microsoft’s chief diversity officer said the company’s work in the area was “more important than ever.”

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Electronic Arts slashed its full-year bookings guidance on Wednesday, blaming the shortfall on underperforming games, notably its soccer franchise, EA Sports FC. The shares dropped 7% in extended trading.

For the fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 31, EA said it expects to report about $2.215 billion in net bookings, versus previous guidance of $2.4 billion to $2.55 billion.

Revenue in the December quarter will be about $1.88 billion, with $1.11 in diluted earnings per share, the company said in a statement.

EA said it expects net bookings for the full fiscal year, ending March 31, of between $7 billion and $7.15 billion, below previous guidance of $7.5 billion to $7.8 billion. EA says net bookings include physical game sales as well as revenue from online games.

The warning reveals weakness in the most prominent soccer video game franchise since 1993. It used to fall under the FIFA branding, but in 2022 EA’s deal with FIFA ended and the last two EA soccer games have been sold as EA Sports FC.

The company also said that “Dragon Age,” a role-playing game for game consoles such as Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox, had 1.5 million players during the quarter, which underperformed the company’s expectations by nearly 50%.

“During Q3, we continued to deliver high-quality games and experiences across our portfolio,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in the statement. “However, Dragon Age and EA SPORTS FC 25 underperformed our net bookings expectations.”

EA said that while its soccer franchise, which it calls Global Football, had seen two years of double-digit growth in net booking, it started to see a slowdown during the December quarter. The company said that it expects Global Football sales to be down on a year-over-year basis, and said that bookings from online sales, or live services, would also decline in fiscal 2025. The company’s soccer franchise, accounted for the majority of the live services shortfall.

EA said that recently updated FC 25 with new content, improved gameplay, and an annual “Team of the Year” update, which it says was well-received by players.

The warning comes weeks ahead of EA’s planned third-quarter earnings on Feb. 4.

Instagram users are complaining this week that they’re being forced by Meta to follow President Donald Trump’s social media accounts without their consent.

In a Threads post on Wednesday, a Meta representative said users are seeing posts from @POTUS, @VP and @FLOTUS because those accounts are handed off when a presidential transition occurs in the U.S.

“People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady,” wrote Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta. “Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes.”

Users who previously followed the accounts continue to follow them, as well as the former administration’s archive accounts, when the transition of power occurs, Meta confirmed in an email. That includes the account for @WhiteHouse.

Trump’s inauguration on Monday marked the third handoff from one administration to the next. The Obama administration, which created many of the accounts that are used today, addressed the matter in a blog post ahead of the 2016 election, which Trump also won. 

“On Instagram and Facebook, the incoming White House will gain access to the White House username, URL, and retain the followers, but will start with no content on the timeline,” the Obama administration wrote. “An archive of White House content that was posted to the Obama White House Instagram and Facebook will continue to be accessible to the public at Instagram.com/ObamaWhiteHouse and Facebook.com/ObamaWhiteHouse.”

The Obama administration added that all posts and materials created by the accounts would be preserved with the National Archives and Records Administration and that new accounts would also be created to preserve the content. 

Posts from the accounts previously used by former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former First Lady Jill Biden have moved to @potus46archive, @vp46archive and @fotus46archive, respectively. 

Political chatter has picked up on Meta’s platforms following a series of moves taken by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that appeared to be aimed at appeasing President Trump.

Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and attended the event in Washington D.C., even co-hosting a celebratory reception. 

Zuckerberg this month announced several policy changes for Meta, including eliminating third-party fact checking and ending the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion program. The company also appointed Joel Kaplan, a former Republican White House staffer, as its new policy chief, and Zuckerberg, in an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, touted the benefits of masculinity.

“I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits,” Zuckerberg said on the podcast. 

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