Outreach CEO steps down | Microsoft names new COO from GE

Outreach CEO steps down: A decade after co-founding the Seattle-based sales automation startup, Manny Medina is passing the CEO reins to Abhijit Mitra , who joined the company last year. Medina will become executive chairman of the Outreach board. Read more. 

Microsoft named a new chief operations officer, former General Electric finance chief Carolina Dybeck Happe . Reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, she’s the first person with the COO title at the company in eight years, but with a very different focus. Read more.

In other news from Redmond, the company’s Xbox and video games division continued its cost-cutting Thursday morning, laying off another 650 employees. Read more.

Amperity layoffs: The Seattle-based customer data startup laid off 13% of its workforce, citing “economic pressures” impacting software vendors. Read more.

School’s back — with no internet: Highline Public Schools is reopening Thursday after a cyberattack forced the district to shut down classes for three days this week. Read more.

• Related: As the Port of Seattle recovers from its own cyberattack, its executive director has some advice for other business and government organizations. Read more.

Satellite spending: A new analysis of Amazon’s Project Kuiper effort to create a global satellite broadband network estimates the cost of getting the project off the ground at $16.5 billion to $20 billion, significantly higher than figures cited by Amazon four years ago. Read more.

ZeroAvia , a sustainable aviation startup with operations near Seattle, raised $150 million in a fresh funding round. Read more.

Sun and smiles at our rooftop party: High above Seattle in the Slalom Hawk Tower, GeekWire partied with the tech community on Wednesday at our annual end-of-summer event. See photos.

In a bid to help underrepresented entrepreneurs, a new program created by two Pacific Northwest firms supports startup founders pursuing climate and clean tech business ideas. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Executives from Microsoft, OpenAI, and other leading AI companies met at the White House to talk about AI’s energy usage. (CNBC) 
• Amazon is closing two warehouses in California. (SFGATE)

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