Microsoft nabs another Yahoo exec

Microsoft is continuing its one-employee-at-a-time acquisition of Yahoo.

The software maker confirmed late Wednesday that it has hired Larry Heck, a Yahoo vice president.

Microsoft said that Heck will start in a few weeks and report to Satya Nadella, senior vice president of the online services division of Microsoft's R&D group.

"We look forward to welcoming him to the team," Microsoft said in a statement.

Heck is the latest in a string of executives to move from Yahoo to Microsoft, with the most notable being Qi Lu, who now runs Microsoft's online unit. Other high profile hires by Microsoft include Sean Suchter and Scott Moore.

Heck's early tenure at Yahoo was marked by controversy. After he joined the company from speech recognition technology maker Nuance Communications, Nuance sued Yahoo, saying Heck helped poach a dozen workers from Nuance.

Microsoft, which last year offered billions to buy Yahoo, has said it remains interested in a search partnership.

Heck's hiring was reported earlier Wednesday by Bloomberg News.

[sundance808]

yahoo: "what the heck!"

[msjonker]

Hey, Microsoft, I'm still waiting for my offer. I WASN'T executive management of a business that faltered under my watch, which I think qualifies me more than these Yahoo execs. If these execs had been worth anything, they would have known to get out of Yahoo way before now. Microsoft is just scraping the bottom of the barrel...

[JCPayne]

Hehe thats right MS... go right ahead and consume some of the poison too. Tastes good- eh?

[George_Marenco]

Bad Medicine.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Heck , sounds like a smart move.

[loose_screw]

Yeah, makes sense to me. Because Yahoo is doing so well...