Microsoft says it has terminated the employment of two people who helped to lead marketing for its Bing search engine: Eric Hadley, who was general manager of consumer marketing; and Sean Carver, who was director of consumer marketing in Microsoft’s Online Services Division.
A Microsoft spokesperson says in a statement, “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.”
Microsoft provided no further details about the investigation.
The two previously worked with Danielle Tiedt, who was recently hired by Google’s YouTube. Microsoft said in a previous statement that it had decided to “part ways” with Tiedt in a decision unrelated to her hiring by YouTube.
Hadley was profiled in a 2010 Daily Beast article that called him “Microsoft’s Mr. Fun,” picturing him with Jay-Z at a party thrown by Bing, and touting him as “the guy making Bing, if not all of Microsoft, cool.”
We’re trying to reach Carver and Hadley and will update this post if we do.
The two were known for creative efforts to market Bing using celebrities and parties at events including the Sundance Film Festival, fashion shows and sporting events. They were listed as executive producers on the film Para Fuera, a documentary about Dr. Richard Bing that was shown at Sundance. The company hosted a Bing Bar at Sundance this year.
Attention-grabbing promotions and experiments aren’t unprecedented at Microsoft, and it’s not clear if the decision to terminate their employment was related to anything that happened behind the scenes in the course of planning and presenting those types of events.
Mike Nichols, a Microsoft GM, will assume additional responsibilities on an interim basis as a result of their departure.
