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.

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday launched its latest flagship smartphones — the Galaxy S25 series — touting a custom chip and boosted AI features.

The S25 release comes after a year in which Samsung’s smartphone shipments came under pressure from Chinese players and Apple.

Samsung’s S25 series comes in three variants — the S25, S25+ and the S25 Ultra — as has been the case with previous flagship launches.

The starting prices are as follows:

• Galaxy S25: $799
• Galaxy S25+: $999
• Galaxy S25 Ultra: $1,299

Samsung will start taking preorders for the S25 series on Wednesday and the devices will go on sale on Feb. 7.

Last year, Samsung launched Galaxy AI — its suite of artificial intelligence features — on the S24.

With the S25, Samsung unveiled additional AI applications with the aim of making the phone more like a digital personal assistant.

Samsung’s latest devices can carry out tasks across multiple apps when prompted. For example, a user can ask the phone to find their favorite football team’s schedule and add it to their calendar. Or a user could prompt the AI application to find nearby pet-friendly restaurants to send to a specific contact. All of these actions will be carried out by the device across multiple apps.

Samsung said the feature supports third-party apps like Spotify and Meta-owned WhatsApp, as well as its own and Google‘s apps.

The AI application can also change settings on the phone when prompted by a user.

Samsung’s latest features underscore the way in which the South Korean tech giant and some of its rivals are racing to make AI on devices more like personal assistants that cater to a person’s usage habits and preferences.

Last year, Apple began rolling out Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features to iPhones.

Device makers view AI as way to differentiate their hardware from the sea of competitors. Samsung, for example, is hoping the technology will help revive sales for its high-end product.

“At a time when improvements to hardware capabilities and product design are largely incremental, Samsung is doubling down on its AI story. There are some clever enhancements included in the Galaxy S25 line-up, but it’s unlikely they’ll be enough to have consumers rushing out to upgrade their phones prematurely,” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC.

“However, this is far from being a unique issue for Samsung. Apple is facing the same challenges with the iPhone 16 and Apple Intelligence. AI is a boon for someone who needs an upgrade, but not enough to move the needle for consumers who have a relatively up-to-date phone already.”

Shipments of Samsung smartphones fell 2.7% year on year in the fourth quarter of last year as its market share contracted, according to International Data Corp. figures. Samsung was the No. 2 player by shipment volume after Apple.

Meanwhile, Chinese players Xiaomi, Transsion and Vivo increased market share, with aggressively priced devices boasting solid specs.

CCS Insight’s Wood concluded that the S25 series is “well suited to the growing number of consumers who have a mobile phone that’s three or four years old” but “it’s unlikely to get people upgrading any sooner.”

To power its latest AI features, Samsung and Qualcomm worked on a custom processor. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy is exclusive to Samsung with the South Korean giant claiming it is the fastest processor ever in a Galaxy device.

Fast but low power consumption processors inside of smartphones are vital for ensuring management of heavy AI workloads without draining the battery.

Samsung also talked up other changes to the hardware including an improved camera on the S25 Ultra model and new design.

The S25 series now has rounded corners rather than the more angular design of its predecessors.