Microsoft officially announced Thursday the appointment of Blake Krikorian, formerly CEO and co-founder of Sling Media, as corporate vice president for its Interactive Entertainment Business, which includes the Xbox Live service.
The announcement follows Microsoft’s acquisition of Krikorian's company, id8 Group R2 Studios, which was developing home-automation applications. Krikorian will report to Marc Whitten, chief product officer for IEB.
"We are thrilled to have Blake join the Xbox team," Whitten said in a statement. "He's a proven innovator and well-respected leader in both the media and technology industries, having created simple, elegant products that have transformed the way people engage with and consume content. We look forward to his contribution to our team as Xbox continues to evolve and transform the games and entertainment landscape."
Krikorian commented, "I am excited to join Microsoft and be a part of the Xbox team. As a 10-year Xbox Live subscriber, I have seen firsthand how Xbox has delighted us by reinventing how consumers experience games and entertainment. I look forward to helping the team define the future of entertainment and contribute to the next decade of continued innovation."
Krikorian, who founded Sling Media with his brother Jason in 2004, quit the company in January 2009 after EchoStar acquired his company in a deal worth $380 million about a year earlier.
Krikorian had served on the board of Amazon.com for about a year before resigning late last month. He also co-founded the Philips Mobile Computing Group where he co-led the team that created the Velo 1 handheld PC running Windows CE.
