@davidgerard

Your first thought was probably correct. Creating a new project and putting the abject failure in charge of it is SOP for Microsoft dealing with people who it would be expensive / embarrassing to fire for incompetence after enabling them in their incompetence for a long time. Over time, the new group will gradually have its headcount reduced until the lead uses his current leadership position to swing a better-paid job at Google or AWS, where he can then cause damage to competitors’ efforts.