SEVERAL months ago we showed the dangerous impact of former Microsoft employees occupying positions of power in other companies. Mozilla is the most recent example, but there's more.

Yahoo

We last wrote about Yahoo when it became more evident that it had been captured from the inside. There is a followup here where it's explained how Yahoo got poison-pilled by proxies like Carl Icahn and 2 of his cronies. They 'liberated' the Board of Directors and now comes this report from Bloomberg.

Carl Icahn, who holds a 5.5 percent Yahoo stake, told CNBC last week that he would oppose a potential bid for Yahoo by former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller. Analysts had pointed to Miller as a potential successor to Yang, who announced plans to resign last month. Yahoo must sell its Web search unit to Microsoft after rejecting an offer from the software maker earlier this year, Icahn said.

How assertive. The word "must" is being used. Microsoft only wants the 'fun' part (search market) of Yahoo... just like in that "one-night stand" analogy from Microsoft's top evangelism persona. Here is another post which tries to encourage the snatching of Yahoo employees by Microsoft.

Amazon

Amazon is another company where key positions are being filled by former Microsoft employees. Here is one recent example and here is a new one.

Key data center architect leaves Microsoft, headed for Amazon

[...]

The Data Center Knowledge blog has more details Hamilton's impact on Microsoft's data center strategy, particularly in the area of containerization.

Mary Jo Foley covered this too. Putting it bluntly, this leaves more Microsoft poison inside Amazon. Not so long ago, Amazon began offering Windows as an option for 'clouds' and with people like Brian Valentine (formerly of Microsoft) up at the top, there may be a relationship. There are lessons to be learned here from VMware and others [1, 2, 3, 4].

Costco

Last but not least, Costco has just been struck by Microsoft influence deep inside its board of directors.

Warehouse-club operator Costco Wholesale Corp. said Tuesday it named Jeff Raikes, a former Microsoft executive, to its board of directors.

Might Mr. Raikes introduce them to his former employer? ⬆