Kara Swisher reports Microsoft is considering taking legal action against Facebook for allegedly poaching their employees. Facebook recently hired Microsoft’s global ad sales head Carolyn Everson. That sparked a deeper look at how Facebook may be going after Microsoft's talent. And Microsoft may potentially use legal action to prevent Everson from working at Facebook. It wouldn't be the first time Microsoft used legal measures to prevent former employees from working at other companies. "Microsoft was one of our earliest partners and is still one of our most valued," Sheryl Sand [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Microsoft: Business Issues

Why was he there? Who wasn't invited and why? What did they talk about? Why was he really there? These are the questions being debated this morning about Obama's visit last night to the home (dare I say "lavish Woodside estate") of tech investor and Google board member John Doerr. Stanford University President John Hennessy (also a Google board member) was present and so was Google CEO Eric Schmidt, but not incoming Google CEO Larry Page. Who Was There? Here's the full list of attendees according to the NY Times, LA Times and SF Chronicle: John Doerr, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: Analysis | Google: Business Issues | Microsoft: Business Issues | Twitter | Yahoo: Business Issues

Microsoft announced second quarter earnings yesterday, which beat Wall Street's expectations. The company reported a lot of good news about its revenues, profits and products, including Windows (PC) 7, Kinect/Xbox and Office. However Online Services, which houses all Microsoft's online operations including MSN and Bing, posted a $543 million loss. That's up from $463 a year ago. The company is on track to lose $2 billion for the year in that division, though ad revenues are up 23 percent. There was very little discussion of search in particular or Windows Phones except for the fo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: General | Top News

Under the somewhat sensational headline, "Dark forces gunning for Google," The Telegraph today shared the story of ICOMP -- the Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace -- a European-based trade group that appears to exist mostly, or solely, to be a thorn in Google's side. On its website, ICOMP hits all the right notes. Its mission statement talks about "support for principles that are essential to a healthy online environment" and "the adoption of best practices to promote creativity, innovation, safety and trust." But the group also says that "no single company should be allowed [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Business Issues | Google: Critics | Microsoft: Business Issues

Microsoft announced their Q1 2010 fiscal earnings with a 25% increase in revenue, $16.20 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2010. Operating income was $7.12 billion and net income was $5.41 billion, both up from the past. These reports beat Wall Streets expectations and the stock is currently slightly up in after hours trading. How about Bing? Well, Bing is part of Microsoft's Online Services Division, which took an operating loss of $560 million. That is much higher from the previous year, where they took a loss of $477 million. However, revenue did climb in that division, with [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Business Issues

The Yahoo to Microsoft adCenter search ad transition in the U.S. and Canada is now complete. Both Microsoft and Yahoo confirmed the transition is now complete. Yahoo said: Today is a momentous day for us, as Yahoo! has completed the process of moving search ad serving for Yahoo! to the Microsoft Advertising adCenter platform in the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, this marks the completion of the transition of advertisers’ Yahoo! Search Marketing accounts to adCenter. From now on, to manage the ads displayed on Yahoo US or Canada, you need to manage them on Microsoft adCenter. Yahoo [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft: Bing Ads | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Partnerships | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Partnerships | Yahoo: Search Ads

The Wall Street Journal reports the largest online retailer in Japan, Rakuten has asked the Japan Fair Trade Commission to review the Yahoo-Google deal from a few months back. A Rakuten spokesperson said: The tie-up between the two firms would result in Google monopolizing information, which could hinder the development and growth of not only search engines but many Internet-related services in Japan. As we know, Microsoft said they will also challenge the deal where they said: We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Business Issues | Google: Outside US | Google: Partnerships | Microsoft: Business Issues | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Partnerships

Bing announced that in the upcoming version of Firefox, Bing will be added as one of the standard set of search provider options. This will be on both the Mac and PC versions of Firefox 4. Bing said: We’re very excited to be included in the search engine choices in the upcoming version of Firefox. Having Bing in the "out of the box" list makes it easier than ever for the Firefox community to experience the benefits of Bing. Postscript From Danny Sullivan: The current default search engine in Firefox is Google, and that doesn't seem to be changing. However, it's a big boost for Bing to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Content | Firefox | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Partnerships | Top News

News broke yesterday that Microsoft was suing Motorola for Android-related patent infringements. Microsoft said in a blog post that its patents cover a range of software functions used by Android devices (presumably this would apply to the iPhone as well): The Microsoft innovations at issue in this case help make smartphones "smart."  Indeed, our patents relate to key features that users have come to expect from every smartphone.  The ability to send and receive email on-the-go has driven smartphone adoption . . . Of course, for certain apps to run efficiently on handheld devices, th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile | Legal: Patents | Microsoft: Business Issues | Top News

The Seattle Times Newspaper published an interview with Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer. The interview covered many topics but I wanted to highlight the search specific topics. Ballmer in the interview said, "They're [Google] starting to look at the stuff we're doing and copying it back. What is it? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." He outright says Google is copying them. Of course, many would agree. I also found Ballmer's comments on what Bing does better than Google. Ballmer said, "our maps are better, our images our better, our picture is different." In response to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Employees | Top News

Prior Microsoft search loyalty programs, SearchPerks and Cashback, were retired. But maybe the third time's the charm: today Microsoft is rolling out Bing Rewards Preview (beta). It's a credit card or airline-style loyalty program that offers users credits that can be redeemed for products, gift cards or charitable donations. People must first install the Bing Bar toolbar, have a Windows Live ID, be on a Windows machine and use Internet Explorer. No Chrome or Firefox, no Macs. You get 250 credits for signing up and accrue additional credits by taking desired actions or conducting sea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Marketing | Top News

In a move that should surprise no one, Microsoft says it will try to block the recently announced Google-Yahoo Japan partnership. In our story from Tuesday, a Microsoft senior VP spoke out strongly against the partnership. Now, Silican Alley Insider received confirmation last night that the company will take steps to challenge it formally. "We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially more harmful to competition than Google's deal with Yahoo in 2008 that the DOJ found to be illegal," says a Microsoft rep. Also reported in o [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Outside US | Google: Partnerships | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Outside US | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Partnerships | Yahoo: Search

AllThingsD reported that the Softbank majority owned Yahoo Japan has decided to replace Yahoo Search (soon Yahoo-Bing) with Google. Yahoo owns a minority stake in Yahoo Japan and so can't control or block the decision. According to a statement released by Yahoo it will "support" the deal as it is contractually bound to do: Yahoo! Japan announced that it has chosen to implement Google as its backend algorithmic search engine and paid search infrastructure. Yahoo! Japan made this decision as an independent and separate publicly traded company, in which Yahoo! holds a 35% equity interest. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Outside US | Google: Partnerships | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Outside US | Top News | Yahoo: Outside US | Yahoo: Partnerships | Yahoo: Search

Microsoft announced earnings and beat expectations of Wall Street. Microsoft reported, "record fourth-quarter revenue of $16.04 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, a 22% increase from the same period of the prior year. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $5.93 billion, $4.52 billion and $0.51 per share, which represented increases of 49%, 48% and 50%, respectively, when compared with the prior year period." The Online Services Division is where the search finances fall under. That includes Bing and the Yahoo alliance. Revenue in the O [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Business Issues | Top News

Yahoo sent out an email discussing some of the organic Yahoo-to-Bing transition topics that are on the mind of their advertisers. The email goes over typical questions and tips but adds some additional insight into launch and testing dates. Yahoo confirmed they are testing Bing powered results "offline," which we already know. But today, I believe for the first time, Yahoo has confirmed they will be testing Bing powered results in the live search results. The email wrote: Though much of our testing is already happening offline, this month we'll also test the delivery of organic and pai [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Partnerships | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Partnerships | Yahoo: Search

The clever folks in Redmond (aided by their attorneys) appear to have found a way to gain "licensing revenue" from Android phones. That's right. Android the OS is "free," and that was seen, early on, as a competitive advantage vs. Windows Mobile, which had exacted a price of up to $15 dollars per unit from handset makers. Yesterday, however, Microsoft announced it had reached a licensing agreement with longtime partner HTC regarding its patent portfolio and Android phones: Microsoft Corp. and HTC Corp. have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile | Google: Mobile | Legal: Patents | Microsoft: Business Issues

Wall Street is a curious place. A number of companies last week and this week reported very strong revenues suggesting that the recession is in fact over. But investors, disappointed that performance wasn't even stronger, punished their shares perhaps with more aggressive expectations than were justified under the circumstances. Amazon and eBay are two examples of companies with strong revenues and income where investors sold off the stock. And so is Microsoft. Redmond reported "record [fiscal] third-quarter revenue of $14.50 billion" with a 35% increase in net income. Investors responde [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: General

Among the major search engines, Microsoft is still the biggest spender when it comes to lobbying politicians, but none are spending lobbying dollars faster than Google. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Google's spend on lobbying has gone from $260,000 in 2005 to more than $4 million in 2009, an increase of more than 1,500%. (chart via http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?year=2009&lname=Google+Inc&id=) As Google has grown, its business interests have clearly led to wanting a stronger voice in Washington, DC. We've documented the Department of Jus [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Legal: General | Microsoft: Business Issues | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Legal

Bing sent me a link to their new UK Bing commercial. The new UK ad blitz by Microsoft is aimed at capturing market share from Google in that region. Here is that commercial. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Outside US

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer makes his first address to the search marketing community today at SMX West in Santa Clara. Danny Sullivan will sit down with Ballmer for a "fireside chat" that will also include time for Q&A from members of the audience. NOTE: Microsoft has now posted a video and a transcript of the talk. Speaking of the audience, many of the big names in traditional media will be on hand to hear Ballmer talk about Microsoft's progress in search. And, did I mention that the keynote conversation is being streamed live on CNBC's Power Lunch program? It is. And if the conven [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Retail | Microsoft: Bing | Microsoft: Bing Mobile | Microsoft: Bing Shopping & Cashback | Microsoft: Business Issues | Microsoft: Partnerships | Top News