Microsoft, the software giant, said it will spend $1 billion on research and development (R&D) in China over the next three years, which is to ensure its long-term investment after the company’s anti-piracy policy that made many users in the country angry.

According to Zhang Yaqin, chairman of China Research and Development for Microsoft, the spending is mainly focused on staffing and resources for R&D, not including the $300 million spent on its new Read more…

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Wuxi, 90 minutes’ drive from Shanghai, is considered one of the top 15 most economically developed cities. Its per capita GDP is expected to surpass $10,000 this year and the manufacturing industry is still on the lead.

Microsoft China, signed a contract with Wuxi government on Sunday, planning to open an IT training centre in Wuxi to turn out skilled professional to work in the emerging IT industry in this city. To offer professional IT training to 10,000 students a Read more…

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Yahoo, the second-most-popular search engine, released in a statement that it received a joint proposal from Microsoft Corp and Carl Icahn on July 13. (The later is an activist investor who controls 69 million Yahoo shares.) And it was given less than 24 hours to accept it, which is “odd and opportunistic” as Chairman Roy Bostock said. It also said Microsoft and Icahn made clear they would not like to negotiate the fundamental terms, which include the immediate replacement of Yahoo’s board and removal of top management. “It is ludicrous to think that our board could accept such a proposal. We will not be bludgeoned into a transaction that is not in the best interests of our stockholders” Chairman Roy Bostock said in the statement.

Microsoft, which on May 3 withdrew an offer to buy Yahoo, made this latest proposal a few weeks before Yahoo’s annual meeting on August 1. Microsoft said last Monday it may renew talks for a deal if Icahn succeeds in ousting Yang and his board. Microsoft has been embroiled in on-again, off-again deal talks with Yahoo for six months. And it said it no longer wants to negotiate with Yang’s team.

The financial returns of the new proposal is not given a detailed statement, saying only that it was an improvement over an offer the software maker made in June but still carries less financial value and more risk than Yahoo’s current searching advertising deal with Google. But it added that Microsoft had again rejected its repeated offer to sell Yahoo for at least $33 per share. On that day Yahoo shares, climbing 1.3 percent this year closed at US$23.57 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Microsoft, which fell 20 cents to US$25.25 on Friday, has slipped 29 percent this year. But Yahoo had reported eight quarters of profit declines before Microsoft’s bid.

Yahoo said it was ironic that Icahn, who had previously urged the company not to sell its search business to Microsoft, was now supporting a proposal to do exactly that. And in the Wall Street Jouranal last week Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang accused Microsoft of wanting to disrupt the web search company. He also said it would be “a bad choice” for Yahoo shareholders to trust Icahn.

Bostock. Concerning this proposal Bostock said Microsoft not to engage with Yahoo’s management is “completely absurd and irresponsible”, “while this type of erratic and unpredictable behavior is consistent with what we have come to expect from Microsoft, we will not be bludgeoned into a transaction that is not in the best interests of our stockholders.”

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Software giant Microsoft announced its plan to invest $280 million to build a research and development center in Beijing and significantly expand its research team in the country.

Microsoft started its first R&D center in China as early as 1995. And the company now has research facilities in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Last year, Microsoft invested about $280 million in its R&D activities in China and recruited 1,000 new employees to its China R&D Group.

At present, the company has 3,000 research staff in the country, with 1,500 full-time employees and another 1,500 working on a project basis. And it will double the number of its full-time research employees in China to 3,000 in the next three years.

The new R&D campus will be able to accommodate 5,000 employees, making it Microsoft’s largest research center outside the US when it is completed in 2010.

These investments are said to have helped Microsoft win support from the Chinese government and boosted sales in the Chinese market. Fortune Magazine estimated last year that its revenue from China would exceed $700 million last year, about 1.5 percent of Microsoft’s global sales.

China also has the world’s largest number of Internet and mobile phone users, offering what is believed to be huge opportunities for IT companies.

With the rapid development of the internet, BPOVIA Ltd based in China is always glad to offer our virtual assistant services to businessmen around the world looking for opportunities in the Chinese market.

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Microsoft China plans to set up an IT training center in Wuxi, one of China’s top 15 most economically developed cities, to prepare skilled professionals for the city’s emerging IT industry.

Microsoft China and the Wuxi government have signed a deal to establish the training program. According to the deal, the city’s hi-tech zone Wuxi New District will provide infrastructure for the training center and Microsoft technical platform and program. The center is expected to give professional IT training to 10,000 students each year.

Wuxi, with its solid industry foundation and overseas business network, plans to have 100 companies providing international outsourcing services and exporting software by 2010. Each will employ at least 2,000 staff and will have an export volume of $30 million. And the city has been active in seeking cooperation with foreign outsourcing companies.

“We are delighted to have Microsoft as a partner to help us in our endeavor,” said Yang Weize, Party chief in Wuxi. “We believe Microsoft’s experience will help us develop a large pool of IT professionals in Wuxi,” he said. And Zhang Yaqin, head of Microsoft China said the company is willing to help Wuxi to achieve its outsourcing goal.

Currently, outsourcing is a big trend for business development. As a professional company providing virtual assistants for businesses, BPOVIA Ltd is always your source in China.

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