microhoo

Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it has indeed hired Yahoo search executive Sean Suchter, following speculation this week that he would be joining the software maker after his departure from Yahoo was announced.

"We are very pleased to confirm that Sean Suchter will be joining Microsoft as the GM of our Silicon Valley Search Technology Center, working on Live Search," Microsoft search head Satya Nadella said in a statement. Suchter, who starts work December 22, will report to Harry Shum, corporate vice president of Search Product Development.

The poaching comes as CEO Steve Ballmer reiterated at Microsoft's shareholder … Read more

Microsoft may no longer be looking to buy Yahoo outright, but I'm guessing it is not averse to picking up some of its talent.

Valleywag reported on Wednesday that Sean Suchter, a top search executive at Yahoo, is leaving the company and speculated that he is headed to Microsoft. Kara Swisher, at All Things Digital, says she's hearing the same thing.

The move comes the same week as Yahoo announced that Jerry Yang will step down as soon as the company finds his replacement.

Suchter's colleagues didn't try to sugarcoat the news of his departure, according … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threw his daily bucket of cold water on the notion that the software maker will return with a new bid for all of Yahoo.

"We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo," Ballmer said, adding that he has said this a bunch of times but that some people remain "confused."

"We did our best," he said. "We've moved on."

His comments came at the company's annual shareholders meeting Wednesday in Bellevue, Wash., not far from the company's Redmond headquarters. Ballmer, whose address was offered … Read more

With the Monday evening announcement that Jerry Yang would step down as its chief executive, Yahoo's search for his replacement will not only be closely watched by its investors but also by the folks at Microsoft, according to sources.

In part, two people industry players and headhunters point to as possible good fits already have Redmond running through their veins. One is former Microsoft online and Windows chief Kevin Johnson, who recently left to take a CEO post at Juniper Networks, and the other is Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group, who … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Friday that Microsoft is "not interested" in making a new offer for Internet company Yahoo, despite Yahoo's share price currently sitting at less than half what Microsoft initially offered.

Speaking at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch in Sydney on Friday, Ballmer said: "Look, we made an offer, we made another offer. It was clear that Yahoo didn't want to sell the business to us, and we moved on."

Ballmer said other deals with Yahoo had also been unsuccessful. "We tried at one point to do … Read more

Is Jerry Yang getting eager to make a deal?

The Yahoo chief might well be reeling from Google's decision Wednesday to pull the plug on a search-ad partnership with Yahoo that would have given Yahoo major new revenue but that raised antitrust concerns. Google said the proposed partnership wasn't worth the headache after the Department of Justice notified Yahoo and Google that if they proceeded with their controversial search agreement, it would file a lawsuit to block the deal.

Now it appears that Yang is leaving the door very much open for an old suitor: Microsoft.

During a … Read more

Update at 1:44 p.m. PDT, with Yahoo's closing stock price and correction to the acronym for the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG).

A consumer group, legislators, and Wall Street weighed in this week on Yahoo's proposed search advertising deal with Google, as the partnership underwent another round of dishing.

With the companies having granted the Department of Justice two extensions to say yea or nay on the deal--one just last week--a new go-around of public commentary was to be expected.

JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan issued a research note on Wednesday that re-examines the potential … Read more

Yahoo and Google have extended their Wednesday deadline for antitrust regulators to issue a decision on whether to block the controversial search advertising deal to proceed, according to a source familiar with the talks.

And at this point, it remains to be seen whether a definitive decision to block the agreement, or allow it with remedies as part of a settlement, will occur before the Thanksgiving holiday.

"Wouldn't it be nice to get it resolved, one way or another, before Thanksgiving?" said the source.

Previously, a deadline had been set for Wednesday for antitrust regulators to make … Read more

Updated at 8:15 a.m. PDT with Google comment. Updated at 8:36 a.m. with comments from Silver Financial's Darren Nix.

With a deadline looming next week for federal antitrust regulators to approve or challenge Yahoo and Google's controversial search advertising partnership, the search giant has apparently been busy trying to drum up large advertisers to provide public testimonials in support of the deal, according to a report in TechCrunch.

Such efforts could offset concerns expressed by Department of Justice antitrust regulators over a potential price increase to advertisers as well as reduced competition should Yahoo … Read more