Inside Microsoft’s high-stakes push to win back its AI lead

Good morning. Microsoft was once the undisputed front-runner of the generative AI boom, fueled by a $13 billion OpenAI bet. But that narrative has flipped, and so has the stock.

“Microsoft lost its way in the AI race. Can Copilot get it back on course?” is a new Fortune feature article by Jeremy Kahn. He takes readers inside CEO Satya Nadella’s January 2026 prototyping sessions with the team that built Copilot Tasks—the company’s bet on a true computer-using agent. Kahn lays out the strategic, organizational, and capex questions now confronting the board: Is Microsoft’s AI stack differentiated enough to defend margins? Can Copilot Tasks reignite per-seat economics before agentic competitors commoditize the category?

He writes: “The fact that Nadella is spending so much time with the teams building AI products, even rolling up his sleeves and building prototypes himself, says a lot about Microsoft’s current predicament. After all, this is a $3 trillion company, not some scrappy startup where the CEO routinely logs on for coding sprints with the developers. Nadella is concerned enough about the company’s AI strategy that last October he announced he was stepping back from some commercial duties to focus on AI research, product innovation, and the build-out of AI data centers.”

Microsoft shares have slid from their all-time high as investors reprice the software complex through what Wall Street is calling the “SaaSpocalypse,” a name for the brutal repricing of subscription-software multiples in the face of AI coding agents. Microsoft, once positioned as the AI cycle’s biggest beneficiary, has become one of its most prominent casualties. Microsoft’s share price declined 34% from Oct. 28, 2025 through March 27, 2026.

Nadella has been CEO for over 10 years and as Kahn points out, he steered Microsoft through the desktop to cloud shift. But AI is fast-moving. As Kahn writes: “This is the story of how Microsoft fumbled its early AI lead, and how it is trying to get it back.” Read the complete article to find out how Nadella and Microsoft plan to do it.

Everyone likes to see a comeback.

Quick note: We’re off Monday for Memorial Day. CFO Daily will be back in your inbox Tuesday. Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.co

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Leaderboard

Fortune 500 Power Moves

Peter Griffith, CFO of Amgen (No. 134), who has served as the company’s EVP and CFO since 2020, is retiring. Thomas Dittrich will return to Amgen as EVP on July 1 and succeed Griffith as CFO, effective Sept. 1. Dittrich, who previously held senior finance roles at Amgen, brings more than 30 years of experience. Most recently, he served as CFO of Galderma. Before that, he was the CFO at both Shire and Sulzer. Griffith will remain with the company into January 2027 for a transition period.

Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.

More notable moves this week:

Carrie L. Anderson was appointed EVP and CFO of A.O. Smith Corporation (NYSE: AOS), a water heating and treatment company, effective July 1. She succeeds Charles T. Lauber, who is retiring but will stay through Sept. 30 to transition the role. Anderson most recently served as EVP and CFO of The Campbell’s Company, a role she previously held at Integra LifeSciences. Earlier in her career, she held senior finance roles at Dover Corporation and Delphi Corporation.

Ron Kisling was appointed CFO of Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE: SKIL), an AI-native skills management platform, effective immediately. Kisling has more than 40 years of finance experience, including 15 years of CFO experience at high-growth technology companies. He most recently served as CFO at Fastly and Fitbit. Before that. Kisling held CFO positions at other technology companies, including Nanometrics, PGP Corporation, Saba Software, Inc., and SPL WorldGroup, Inc. 

Dan Karpel was promoted to SVP and CFO of Caleres (NYSE: CAL), a portfolio of consumer-driven footwear brands, effective immediately. Karpel rejoined Caleres as chief accounting officer in October 2025 and was appointed to the role of interim chief financial officer in January 2026. He brings 30 years of experience. Before rejoining Caleres, he served as the CFO of Club Car Wash Operating, LLC, and CW Holdings, LLC. 

Ranjan Kalia was appointed CFO of Material Plus Holdings, LLC, a global strategy, consumer insights, and digital transformation consultancy that is part of the Blackstone portfolio. Kalia brings to the role more than 30 years of experience. Most recently, he was CFO at Brillio, and before that at Orion Innovation and Virtusa Corporation.

Eric Lindquist was appointed CFO of Delphi Diagnostics. Lindquist brings decades of leadership experience across pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies. Most recently, he served as CEO of InnoSIGN. Before that, he was chief business and commercial officer at Celcuity. Earlier in his career, Lindquist held senior leadership roles at Natera.

Greg Martini was appointed CFO of Kyverna Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: KYTX), a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, effective May 18. Martini succeeds Marc Grasso who will be consulting for the company for a transition period. Martini joins Kyverna from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as SVP and CFO.

Manus Costello was promoted to group CFO of Standard Chartered, a multinational banking and financial services company. Costello succeeds Diego De Giorgi, who resigned in February. Standard Chartered had named Peter Burrill as its interim CFO following De Giorgi’s departure to join Apollo Global Management as head of the EMEA region. Costello takes on the CFO role after joining Standard Chartered in April 2024 as global head of investor relations.

Big DealMcKinsey Global Institute has released a new report, “Ramping up manufacturing in America?” The study introduces a metrics-based “ramp-up factor” across 5,000 products to evaluate exactly what it would take for the U.S. to address major trade dependencies and produce more goods domestically.

Among the key findings: The U.S. imports $3 trillion in manufactured goods annually. Roughly 25% of that represents an “Achilles’ heel”—products vital to national security that suffer from tight supply concentration or originate from geopolitically distant trading partners. Running all current American factories at maximum sustainable capacity would unlock $660 billion in extra output. But 80% of that capacity sits in transport equipment, metals, chemicals, and paper — meaning a full ramp-up would barely touch the high-tech dependencies the report flags as most exposed.

Going deeperHere are four Fortune weekend reads:

“Meta laid off 10% of its workforce as Mark Zuckerberg warns that in the AI race ‘success isn’t a given’” —Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez

“Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year” —Preston Fore

“While other tech CEOs warn of mass job losses, Glean’s chief says AI will never replace a single worker” —Emma Burleigh

“How Coach became Gen Z’s favorite affordable luxury handbag brand” —Phil Wahba

Overheard

“There is one chip in the world fueling the AI revolution and it’s Nvidia.”

—Wedbush Securities analysts wrote in an investor note this week regarding Nvidia’s earnings report for the first quarter ended April 26. The company reported record revenue of $81.6 billion, up 20% from the previous quarter and 85% year-over-year.

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