US software giant Microsoft announced on Tuesday that chief financial officer (CFO) Chris Liddell will leave the company at the end of the year.
The Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said Liddell, 51, a New Zealander, would be replaced by Peter Klein, 47, currently the CFO of Microsoft’s Business Division.
“Chris and his finance team have accomplished a great deal over the past four and a half years,” Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said in a statement.
Liddell joined Microsoft in May 2005 after serving as CFO of International Paper Co and chief executive of New Zealand’s Carter Holt Harvey Ltd.
He said he was looking to expand his career beyond being a CFO.
Klein joined Microsoft in February 2002. He served three years as CFO of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business before taking over the Business Division.
Meanwhile, Australian and Canadian competition authorities have approved the Internet search and advertising partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft, the two companies announced on Tuesday.
“Microsoft and Yahoo! have been notified that Australian and Canadian authorities have separately concluded their reviews and have no objections to our proposed search agreement,” they said in a joint statement.
“We continue to believe that this deal will create a true, competitive alternative in the marketplace that will benefit consumers, advertisers and publishers,” Yahoo and Microsoft said.
“We remain hopeful that the agreement will close in early 2010,” they said.
The agreement remains subject to review by US anti-trust regulators.
Yahoo and Microsoft had originally planned to finalize the agreement by Oct. 27 but have agreed to extend their negotiations beyond the original date.
The 10-year Web search and advertising partnership unveiled in July sets the stage for a joint Yahoo-Microsoft offensive against Internet titan Google, the leader in the lucrative search and advertising market.
Under the no-cash deal, Yahoo will use Microsoft’s new Bing search engine on its own sites, while Yahoo will provide the exclusive global sales force for premium search advertisers.
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