Former AOL CEO Jon Miller, reportedly Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's favorite to lead the company's new online division, withdrew his name from consideration yesterday because he'll soon be joining Yahoo's board. So if not Miller, who's going to take on the task of saving Microsoft by building its presence on the Web? The top names under consideration:
Microsoft platforms and services president Kevin Johnson addressed employees in an internal memo over the weekend to discuss Yahoo and Microsoft's online strategy. The 11-word version : "We are not where we want to be. Hear more Wednesday." For the superfluous details, see our 100-word version, or, for the gluttons for repetition and passive voice among you, Johnson's entire email, both below:
What does AOL topper Randy Falco think of Microsoft's hostile Yahoo takeover? He hopes it bloodies both parties and Google, too. "I hope they beat each other's brains out over search and leave the display market to us," Falco said at the IAB conference. He cited the wisdom of a role model: "I think it's a mistake. But I think Napoleon said never interrupt your enemy when they're in the middle of making a mistake." Falco hasn't been this nasty since he mocked laid-off AOL employees last Christmas. What gives?
WEB 2.0 SUMMIT — Is Brian McAndrews the odd man out in the online-ad industry? In a four-person panel, Microsoft's new advertising chief was sitting off by himself, while executives from Yahoo, AOL, and Openads shared a couch. "You won't have a dominant player," says McAndrews of consolidation in the industry — consolidation that he helped along by selling his company, aQuantive, to Microsoft for $6 billion. aQuantive, like Microsoft, was based in the Seattle area, far from the office parks of Silicon Valley and the skyscrapers of Madison Avenue.
