Larry Heck from Yahoo joins Microsoft online team

Larry Heck from Yahoo joins Microsoft online team

Yahoo has lost another executive to Microsoft.

Larry Heck is joining Microsoft’s online services team.

He was previously with Yahoo’s search and advertising sciences at Yahoo Labs.

Microsoft spoke about Heck in a statement: “We are happy to confirm that Larry Heck has accepted a job at Microsoft. He will be working for Satya Nadella, SVP, research and development, online services division, and he will start in a few weeks’ time. We look forward to welcoming him to the team.”

Sean Suchter and Qi Lu are two other executives who left Yahoo to join Microsoft.

Market expert Greg Sterling spoke about these new developments: “Microsoft hiring talent away from Yahoo is part of a larger push the company continues to make in search. Microsoft feels it has to invest in search. It’s almost a defensive move in a way, because if Microsoft doesn’t develop online search advertising, there are broader threats to their various franchises.”