VENTURE CAPITAL POST

A U.S. consumer lawsuit accusing Google of monopolizing prime real estate on Android smartphones will help mobile rivals like Microsoft make their antitrust case with European regulators should damaging secrets emerge in court.

In a bid to gain traction over its growing competitors, Washington, US-based software giant Microsoft Corp announced a major boost in its OneDrive cloud storage capacity for business clients, from 25 gigab ytes to one terabyte.

A former employee of Microsoft Corp was arrested and charged with stealing the trade secrets of the software company and giving them to a blogger in France, Bloomberg News reported.

Redmond, US-based software giant is losing two of its top executives: Former Skype chief Tony Bates and marketing head Tami Reller, according to a report by tech news site Re/code.

John Thompson, the Chairman of Microsoft Corp, said the software maker must set its sights on using the company's vast resources to propel it to the right direction, Bloomberg reported.

Africa is already in the radar of large American technology corporations and venture capitalists as IBM, Microsoft and Intel Capital make bets on startups in the continent, TechCrunch reported.

Microsoft is going to give a 70% discount to manufacturers to license Windows 8.1 in their low-cost computers and tablets, according to sources interviewed by Bloomberg.

While incumbent California Governor Jerry Brown has not expressed his plans to run again, donors like Exxon Mobile, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp have contributed to his campaign chest, Bloomberg reported.

Preparations are underway for Microsoft to appoint its enterprise and cloud head Satya Nadella as its new chief executive officer, sources who were familiar with the process told Bloomberg.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's investment in professional football team the Seattle Seahawks, current 2014 NFC Champions in Super Bowl Sunday, appeared to have paid off despite losing over $8 billion initially.

Microsoft is not going to permit itself to be counted out of the cloud game and has taken on Amazon by reducing the prices of its cloud storage services, VentureBeat reported.

Ford Motor Co. chief executive Alan Mulally, once and for all, said that he will not replace Microsoft Corp.'s retiring CEO Steve Ballmer and will remain at the US automaker through 2014. Some prominent Microsoft investors had campaigned for Mulally's candidacy for the top job at the software giant.

Canada-based firm Enbridge Inc has announced an agreement to pour in $200 million in the Keechi Wind Project in Colorado, Texas, which is expected to be completed in early 2015.

Shares of debt-laden construction firm FCC SA leaped by as much as 8.8% on Friday following news that American hedge fund Soros Fund Management, controlled by billionaire George Soros, had acquired a 3% stake in the company.

A CNET report detailed how big the decisions the next chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp needs to make in order to get back into the technology race.