Earlier this month, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick, president of the Xbox division, left the company to become the CEO of struggling mobile game developer Zynga. The move was quite sudden, with Microsoft left leaving CEO Steve Ballmer in charge of this fall’s launch of the new Xbox home console, the Xbox One.

Though the reasons for Mattrick’s departure were the subject of much speculation, one rumor that was repeated often was that he had left just before a massive executive restructuring effort was to take place at Microsoft. This week, reports are surfacing that the restructuring plan may go into effect sooner rather than later.

All Things D is reporting that Ballmer will unveil his executive restructuring plan on Thursday. Citing unnamed “sources close to the situation,” the report states that the reorganization will center on services and hardware for business and consumers. Another rumored part of the plan is to eliminate redundant groups within the company and place efforts into a fewer number of more important products.

The rumors have, understandably, caused a stir within the higher-ups at Microsoft. As reported last week by Bloomberg, Skype CEO Tony Bates is rumored to be promoted to head of an acquisitions and developer outreach branch at the company, while Julie Larson-Green, the current head of the Windows division, could be put in charge of all hardware at the company. Other big moves could include Qi Lu running an online services division, which would include Bing and Office, and a marketing shuffle could leave Windows marketing head Tami Reller with a larger role at the company.

(via All Things D and Bloomberg)

(Image courtesy The CBI under Creative Commons license)