After Google bought ad-serving firm DoubleClick in March 2007, Microsoft rushed onto the market in May 2007 and paid — most say overpaid — $5.9 billion for aQuantive and its three businesses: Atlas, DrivePM and digital agency Avenue A/Razorfish. Microsoft never wanted Avenue A, which investment bankers calculate to be worth about $800 million, buying it only because it came with the aQuantive package. Now AdWeek reports that Microsoft ha found a way to dump Avenue A/Razorfish on media-holding company WPP:

"Compared to the $6.1 billion Microsoft paid for aQuantive and the $3 billion Google paid for DoubleClick I feel we have done a pretty good job here." — AOL CEO Randy Falco, explaining that the fact that his predecessor, Jonathan Miller, spent $435 million to buy Advertising.com somehow makes up for the $850 million Falco just spent on Bebo. [Guardian]

While Microsoft has yet to come up with a search engine that wows consumers, it has successfully wooed Wall Street with its push into online advertising. Alas for Microsoft, it's losing a key dealmaker. Bruce Jaffe, a top corporate-development executive who helped engineer Microsoft's $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive and its $240 million investment in Facebook, is leaving the company. He's been interviewing around the Valley, but last we heard, he's decided to form his own startup. Anyone have more details on what he's up to?

How does the tabloidtastic New York Post spice up a boring story like the ascent of new Microsoft advertising chief Brian McAndrews?