Microsoft poaches Ask CEO

By Steve Malone

Posted on 24 Apr 2006 at 10:18

Microsoft has hired away Steve Berkowitz, the CEO of Ask.com, to head up its Online Business Group.

As a Senior Vice President at the Online Business Group, which includes MSN.com, MSNTV and MSN Internet Access programming, he will be responsible for the marketing, sales and business development related to Microsoft's online services, including MSN.com and Windows Live.

Berkowitz has been credited with turning Ask.com around from being a small player in the highly competitive search engine market behind the giants Yahoo and Google towards where it can at least be taken seriously. This is something that the Microsoft board will have appreciated when it decided to approach him to take on the role of propelling MSN Search forward.

His transformation of the Ask business began through the acquisition of Teoma Technologies in 2001 that gave the then Ask Jeeves service its underlying search technology. He also removed a lot of the baggage from the Ask Jeeves site and turned it into a pure search property. In March 2005, Ask Jeeves was bought by IAC/Interactive for $1.85 billion

In a statement Berkowitz said 'I look forward to working for Microsoft and with the many talented people there who have the ability to be a force for change to continue to shape this still nascent industry.'

Berkowitz starts at MSN on May 8th.