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By Dave Porter (AXcess News) Reno, NV - IAC Search & Media (Nasdaq: IACI) chief executive, Steve Bekrowitz, has resigned his post to accept a lower position at Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) search engine, MSN. Berkowitz will fill the post of senior vice president of MSN's Online Business Group. New York-based IAC Search & Media owns Ask.com, where Berkowitz led its makeover from Ask Jeeves to Ask.com. Doug Lebda, President of IAC Search & Media, assumes Berkowitz's role as chief executive. Microsoft's co-president of the platforms & services division, Kevin Johnson, said Friday that Berkowitz would be joining his division, reporting to directly to him. Johnson said Berkowitz would be replacing David Cole in May. Johnson stated that Cole was taking a "leave of absence". Berkowitz is credited with building the management team that orchestrated the turanorund of Ask.com that gained the search engine more market share and it is rumored that MSN is looking to Berkowitz to perform the same magic for Microsoft's search engine, though without the facelitf Ask went through. Microsoft's MSN is the world's No.&nsbp;3 search engine behind Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO). Prior to joining Ask, Berkowitz was the President of IDG Books, where he developed the consumer brand of its "Dummies" series of books that cover topics ranging from C++ to pet care. At this juncture, Microsoft has not revealed whether other managemnet changes are in store for its MSN search engine, though most likely to occur, those changes may not be in key posts. Shares of IAC closed down 16 cents at $30.07 Friday. Microsoft's shares closed up 12 cents at $27.15.
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