Brad Chase, a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) veteran who spearheaded the software giant's Web-browser campaigns and helped overhaul its Internet services, is leaving his post, the online edition of the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The move comes just as the company is stepping up a battle with archrival America Online (AOL), the paper said. Chase, 40, is giving up the job of senior vice president in charge of Microsoft's MSN Internet businesses, a change disclosed to Microsoft employees last week in an internal e-mail from Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, the paper said. It is not clear if Chase will leave Microsoft altogether, the paper said.

In the e-mail sent on Thursday, Ballmer was reported as saying Chase now "wants to pursue some new challenges". Ballmer was reported as adding, "Brad and I will be working together to define a transition." The e-mail detailed other organizational changes at the company, including the relocation of some of Microsoft's MSN Internet businesses -- such as its Web-searching and browsing functions -- to other development groups, the paper said.