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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS