• D: All Things Digital , Thursday, December 4, 2008 10:30 AM

Microsoft is finally ready to name its new digital head. Sources both inside and outside the company tell Kara Swisher that former Yahoo Qi Lu will be unveiled by the software giant as early as next Monday. Details are still being ironed out, Swisher says, including whether or not Lu will be "paired" with another Microsoft exec with "more general business experience." Lu has managed large teams and overseen large projects at his former employer, but "he does not have advertising sales and media experience that will be a big part of his purview at Microsoft," according to Swisher's report.

Lu would become the boss of Satya Nadella, SVP of engineering for Microsoft's search, portal and advertising platform groups, Yusuf Mehdi, SVP of Strategic Partnerships for MSN and search, and Brian McAndrews, SVP for the advertiser and publisher solutions group. Lu's executive partner could be one of these or another high-ranking Microsoft exec, or even CEO Steve Ballmer himself. McAndrews, the former CEO of aQuantive, which Microsoft purchased for $6 billion in 2007, is also said to be keen on the top digital post. He could be poised to leave the company if he is not elevated in some way.

According Swisher, Lu would be "a different choice" than many had anticipated. The move for a tech-oriented digital chief rather than a more media-centric one indicates that Ballmer is taking even greater aim at Google, and that "a lot" of Microsoft's future rests on winning the search wars. Lu, the former EVP of engineering of Yahoo's Search and Advertising Technology Group, is particularly "well-suited" for that battle, Swisher says.

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