Microsoft Hires Head of Online Services from Yahoo

Redmond, WA-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) announced it has appointed Qi Lu as president of its online services group, which encompasses all of the company’s online search, advertising, information, and communications services. Lu was most recently Yahoo’s executive vice president of engineering for search and advertising technology. Before spending 10 years at Yahoo (NASDAQ: [[ticker:YHOO]]), Lu, 47, held positions at IBM, Carnegie Mellon University, and Fudan University in China. He starts at Microsoft on January 5, and will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. On the way out is Brian McAndrews, former CEO of aQuantive and senior vice president of Microsoft’s advertiser & publisher solutions group, who will serve as a consultant to Ballmer and Lu over the next few months.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.