According to CRN, Microsoft’s vice president of worldwide channel sales David Smith has jumped ship to Google after nearly 30 years with Microsoft. Smith managed over $100 billion in partner-driven and co-sell revenue worldwide in his most recent role and was one of three Microsoft executives named to CRN’s 2025 Channel Chiefs list. He announced his move on LinkedIn this week, calling Google’s mission “more vital than ever” and saying “the opportunity ahead is massive.” Smith previously served as vice president of the U.S. partner business until 2022 and VP of worldwide SMB sales from 2017 to 2022, reporting directly to Microsoft’s Chief Partner Officer Nicole Dezen.
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Why this matters
This isn’t just another executive shuffle. We’re talking about someone who literally managed Microsoft’s relationships with 500,000 partners worldwide. That’s the entire channel ecosystem that sells Microsoft’s cloud, AI, and enterprise solutions. And now he’s taking all that institutional knowledge straight to Google.
Here’s the thing: channel executives like Smith don’t just manage sales. They understand partner economics, compensation models, and what actually makes solution providers successful. Google’s been playing catch-up in the enterprise space for years, and this hire signals they’re getting serious about competing through partners rather than just direct sales.
What Google gains
Smith brings three decades of Microsoft’s channel playbook with him. He knows how Microsoft structures its partner programs, what incentives work, and where the pressure points are. For Google, that’s like getting the opponent’s playbook right before the big game.
And let’s talk about that $100 billion number. That’s the scale of partner business Smith was overseeing. Google’s entire cloud revenue for 2024 was around $38 billion. So they’re bringing in someone who managed nearly triple Google Cloud’s total revenue just through partners. That tells you everything about why this move is significant.
Microsoft’s channel challenge
Microsoft’s partner ecosystem has been their secret weapon for decades. But losing someone of Smith’s caliber right when AI partnerships are becoming critical? That’s going to sting. Partners are the ones who actually implement and customize these AI solutions for customers.
Now Smith gets to apply everything he learned building Microsoft’s channel to Google’s ecosystem. And given that Google included increasing partner services among its 2025 channel goals, they clearly see this as a priority area. Basically, they’re bringing in the architect who helped build their biggest competitor’s partner machine.
Broader implications
This move reflects the intensifying battle for enterprise AI dominance. It’s not just about who has the best models anymore—it’s about who can best deploy them through partners. And partners follow relationships and economics, not just technology.
So what happens next? We’ll probably see Google become much more aggressive in the channel space. They might restructure partner programs, offer more competitive incentives, or target specific Microsoft partner segments. And Microsoft will need to work extra hard to keep their ecosystem loyal.
The AI war just got a lot more interesting. It’s no longer just a technology race—it’s becoming a partner ecosystem battle. And Google just landed one of Microsoft’s top generals.
