Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Skype's Tony Bates.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and Skype’s Tony Bates.

Former Skype executive Tony Bates is joining GoPro as president after getting passed over for the top job at Microsoft earlier this year.

The appointment, which also includes a board seat for Bates, comes just a few weeks after GoPro filed for an initial public offering. The camera maker is profitable, and produced revenues of $986 million last year.

Bates was considered on the short list of candidates to become CEO of Microsoft, but was passed over for Satya Nadella in February.

Bates, who was responsible for business development, strategy and evangelism at Microsoft, left the next month.

GoPro also named Dolby Labs chairman Peter Gotcher to the board.

“I’m fired up to have two seasoned technology veterans like Tony and Peter join our team,” CEO Nicholas Woodman said in the statement. “As president of GoPro, Tony will focus on our core business as well as scaling GoPro’s fast-growing media operations.”

GoPro was started in 2002 by Woodman, and it has since grown in the leading provider of helmet-mounted cameras, used to capture adventure sporting activities.

Microsoft purchased messaging application Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011, a year after Bates joined the company as CEO.

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