Bryan Lee, the Microsoft executive most recently in charge of business development for the company’s Zune portable media player, is retiring to “pursue personal interests.” Taking over the business development work for the Zune brand will be J. Allard, the man widely credited with building Microsoft’s Xbox brand and Xbox Live services into a serious player in the video game console market.
Lee came to Microsoft in 2000, following a long stint at Sony Pictures Entertainment handling contract negotiations. Both Lee and Allard had hands in creating both the Xbox and the Zune, and Lee led most of the negotiations with studios, music distributors, and other content providers for licensing Zune content: including the now infamous dollar-per-player royalty being paid to Universal Music.
