Microsoft said on Friday its $100 million investment to build up its online advertising sales force is beginning to pay off in Europe, even as the global online advertising slump appears to worsen. While it did not break out revenues for its loss-making portal business, Microsoft said that the MSN European business unit grew sales by over 40 percent last quarter. It attributes the growth spurt to a $100 million corporate initiative begun last fall to promote the Internet to advertisers. "Our primary revenue stream continues to be online advertising," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president for MSN. "I'm probably as bullish as anyone in the world on its potential."
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