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)