Microsoft Acquiring Yahoo One Employee at a Time

If Yahoo employee defections to Microsoft continue apace, there may come a day when Redmond will no longer need to buy the struggling company’s search business. It will already have acquired it.

First, Sean Suchter, VP of search technology at Yahoo, left to become general manager of Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Search Technology Center. Then Yahoo search scientist Qi Lu followed him, tapped as president of Microsoft’s Online Services Group. And soon after that, Larry Heck, former VP of search & advertising sciences at Yahoo Labs, accepted a job in the R&D department of the software giant’s online services division. Now Yahoo alum Jan Pedersen has joined them as well. Admittedly Pedersen arrives at Microsoft (MSFT) by way of Amazon’s (AMZN) A9.com. But prior to that gig, he was chief scientist and VP, Search and Advertising Technology Group, at Yahoo (YHOO).

Apparently, Microsoft is going to combine its search business with Yahoo’s one way or the other.