Qi Lu was hired as president of the online services group as Microsoft seeks to compete with Google. Lu left Yahoo in August after 10 years and was executive vice president of engineering for Yahoo’s search and advertising technology group, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Lu’s appointment is being viewed as a possible link between Microsoft and Yahoo after Microsoft unsuccessfully sought to acquire Yahoo earlier this year for $47.5 billion.
“It clearly makes the integration easier” if Microsoft and Yahoo do a search deal, Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst with Collins Stewart told the WSJ.
Lu’s appointment fills some of the gap left last July when Kevin Johnson, then president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division, announced that he planned to leave to become CEO of networking-gear maker Juniper Networks.
Microsoft believes that search engine technology is the best way to make money on the Internet.