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Microsoft says it's bringing in a former Yahoo search executive to lead its online push.

Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) says Qi (pronounced 'CHEE') Lu will be president of its Online Services Group. He'll be responsible for search and online advertising, where Microsoft lags far behind the leader, Google Inc. (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people )

Lu worked for Yahoo Inc. (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) for a decade, and led an overhaul of its online search and ad platform that helped boost ad revenue. He left Yahoo when the company proposed using Google's advertising engine instead of its own.

Lu is filling a slot left vacant in July. One of the top internal contenders for the job, Brian McAndrews, will leave Microsoft. McAndrews was chief of aQuantive (nasdaq: AQNT - news - people ), an online ad company Microsoft bought in 2007.

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