The chief information officer of Microsoft, Stuart Scott, has been fired for "violation of company policies".
The software giant declined to elaborate on the reasons for his dismissal, which followed an internal investigation.
Robert Helm, director of research at Directions on Microsoft, noted this is the third sudden and unexplained departure from the company in the past two years. He told Forbes.com "that the best explanation is some form of HR violation".
Microsoft has quickly inserted the word "former" into Scott's official company biography, which notes that he helped "ensure that Microsoft is the 'first and best customer' of its own products", by deploying pre-release versions of Microsoft software internally.
Scott, who joined Microsoft from GE in 2005, will be temporarily replaced by general manager Shahla Aly and corporate vice president Alain Crozier until a successor is appointed.
