VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Microsoft Corp, fresh from its buyout agreement with Nokia Oyj, would need to convince app makers to partner with them in order to regain market share in the smartphone market.

Co-founding chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer had sought for re-election in Microsoft's board of directors, said a Reuters report.

Three of the top 20 investors in computer software company Microsoft had urged its board to push the firm's founding chairman Bill Gates to step down from office.

In a company-wide employee meeting Thursday, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer made his final farewell with songs, dances and quips against the company's rivals.

In a interview at a Harvard fundraising campaign, Microsoft chairman and founder Bill Gates admitted that the keyboard combination of Control, Alt and Delete keys to log into a PC was a mistake and should had only been one key.

Microsoft formed a video game venture with BesTV News Media Co to take advantage of more liberal free trade rules on gaming consoles in China's free trade zones.

The Board of Directors of Microsoft Corp approved a new share repurchase program worth USD 40 billion.

In a bid to close the market share gap with Google Inc, Microsoft Corp's search engine Bing released its updated logo and homepage on Monday.

Nvidia Corp.announced naming Colette Kress as its new chief financial officer after David White vacated the post last March 2011.

According to several sources who told Reuters, Ford Motor Co CEO Alan Mulally and Computer Sciences Corp CEO Mike Lawrie were endorsed by at least three of Microsoft Corp's top 20 investors for the CEO role.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally said he would remain as the company's head at least through 2014 following reports that Microsoft Corp. had recruited him.

Nokia could boost its royalties as the Finnish phone maker gripped on its valuable patent portfolio.

Following the announced sale of Nokia to Microsoft Corp, BlackBerry shares jumped to as much as 3.6% last Tuesday.

According to an investigative report by the Huffington Post, Microsoft Corp would be dipping into its USD60 billion offshore holdings to finance its Nokia handset business acquisition in cash.

Microsoft said it would be buying the handset business of Finnish company Nokia for EUR5.44 billion or USD7.2 billion, with Nokia CEO Elop and other senior executives transferring to the American multinational software firm.