Omar Abbosh, chief strategy officer at Accenture, speaks during the annual Cyberweek conference at Tel Aviv University, Israel June 20, 2016. Abbosh, 57, will take over the reins early in 2024 from Bird, 59, whose strategy of selling directly to consumers helped Pearson out of a tumultuous few years during the pandemic. Shares in Pearson were down 5.2% at 838 pence in morning trading in London. Bird sought to sharpen Pearson's focus to selling directly to consumers and away from traditional educational outlets as the pandemic boosted demand for online learning. Pearson would compensate Abbosh for leaving Microsoft, including cash and an award of restricted shares equivalent to a maximum of 50,813 Microsoft shares or about 13 million pounds ($16.06 million) at the current price and foreign exchange rates, it said.

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Persons: Omar Abbosh, Amir Cohen, Bird, Pearson, Andy Bird, Abbosh, it’s, Hargreaves, Sophie Lund, Yates, Yadarisa Shabong, Eva Mathews, Janane Venkatraman, Jason Neely, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Accenture, Tel Aviv University, Israel, REUTERS, Microsoft, Pearson, Apollo, Microsoft's Industry Solutions, Walt Disney Co, British, Thomson Locations: Abbosh, Bird, London, Bengaluru