Ballmer Seeks to Justify Online Services Push

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sought to justify to financial analysts the losses from the company's online services group and to defend plans for increasing investment in the group.

Ballmer stepped in to speak for Kevin Johnson on Thursday at the company's annual financial analysts meeting. Johnson has been president of the Platforms and Services division, and his plans to leave the company to serve as CEO of Juniper Networks became public on Wednesday.

"I wanted to make sure that people making announcements in our online business were actually going to be here in three weeks," Ballmer joked. "We wish Kevin the best at his new assignment at Juniper."

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