Microsoft fires two Bing marketing execs for ethics violations

Bing just lost two of its marketing honchos, Microsoft has confirmed, acknowledging that they have been fired. Eric Hadley and Sean Carver, Microsoft has said in a statement, are out the door:

We can confirm that as the result of an investigation, Eric Hadley and Sean Carver’s employment with Microsoft has been terminated for violation of company policies related to mismanagement of company assets and vendor procurement.

We’ll leave it to your own imagination to discern what sort of shenanigans were involved to get them fired, and how they managed to misuse Microsoft’s stuff, but it’s undeniable that Bing just lost two people that it has depended on. According to AdAage, “Mr. Hadley served as general manager, worldwide marketing for Bing,” and “Mr. Carver was Bing’s advertising director.” If you don’t have an advertising director or a marketing boss, you have a headless promotional squad.

Hadley was responsible for several remarkable Bing sponsorships, including a Jay-Z book party, and a Lebron James video.

Bing has long relied on extensive, and expensive marketing campaigns to spread its brand. Going against Google, the market and brand leader, has not been easy for Microsoft; the company has thrown its full weight behind Bing, allowing its division to lose massive amounts of money. Bing is more than a simple search play, however. Microsoft intends it to be its search layer across its entire product line.

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

Bing is also partnered with Facebook to provide users of the social network with web results.

That in hand, it will be interesting to see how Microsoft rebuilds the team that it has thus beheaded, and if those changes in personnel will lead to a recast of its strategies. More as we hear it.