Steve Ballmer justifies the spending on their online businesses

Microsoft recently announced that they were making significant investments in their online services division.

This division has largely been a loss making unit for the company and investors have been worried on these new developments.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer justified the spending saying that they are rather insignificant when they look at the large picture.

He further said that the potential earnings from this division in the coming years are too significant to miss the opportunity.

Microsoft has largely failed to put a dent in the dominating forces on the web like Google and Yahoo whether it comes to search or online advertising.