One of Microsoft’s chief deal architects is leaving the software giant to start his own firm.
Bruce Jaffe – currently vice president of corporate development for Microsoft – plans to vacate his post at the end of February.
The move comes at a time when Microsoft seems more willing to spend money on big-ticket acquisitions in order to help keep pace with rival Google. Just yesterday, for example, the Redmond, Wash.-based company offered $1.2 billion for Norwegian search company Fast Search and Transfer.
Jaffe, who joined Microsoft in 1995 and did a stint as chief financial officer of its MSN unit, has been smack in the middle of Microsoft’s face-offs with Google over the last few years, winning some deals and losing others.
Though Microsoft lost out to Google on an ad-sharing deal with Time Warner’s AOL and on the purchase of online advertising company DoubleClick, it did beat the search engine giant to the punch when it paid $6 billion for ad-serving company aQuantive, as well as investing $240 million in social networking site Facebook.
Though some observers have criticized Microsoft as overpaying in those deals, Wall Street evidently likes the company’s acquisition aggressiveness. Microsoft’s shares are up 16.5 percent from a year ago, and yesterday rose 99 cents, or 3 percent, to close at $34.44. In November its shares reached a 52-week high of $37.50.
“Bruce is a major player in the Microsoft deal machine,” said one source close to the company. “It doesn’t surprise me that he is leaving, as his appetite for [merger and acquisitions] is greater and faster than [CEO Steve] Ballmer’s.”
But despite Jaffe’s departure and Ballmer’s reticence, Microsoft is expected to continue its acquisition spree this year, particularly in the search and online advertising areas.
Sources close to Microsoft say the company is still debating if it should make last year’s informal offer to buy Yahoo! official by going public with its bid.