Microsoft search executive to leave
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
The executive in charge of Microsoft's Internet search business plans to leave the company after two years of losing ground to Google and Yahoo.
Christopher Payne, 38, corporate vice president for the Live Search group, is expected to start his own Seattle-based technology company unrelated to Web search, people familiar with the situation said Wednesday.
His move gives the company a key position to fill in a critical area where it has struggled to gain traction. Since launching its internally developed search engine in early 2005, Microsoft's share of the U.S. market has fallen to 9 percent, from 13 percent, according to Nielsen NetRatings.