We can’t be everywhere. Luckily, Barron’s Eric Savitz made his way to Redmond where he blogged the heck out of the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) annual analyst day. Microsoft set the table with the usual rush of announcements large and small, including the acquisition of ad exchange AdECN, an ad deal with Digg, a deal between in-game ad net Massive and EA. Some pertinent highlights:

Kevin Johnson, president, Platforms and Services Division, on advertising:  “He notes that they have made some big bets; made big bet organically on AdCenter; also made big bet on aQuantive. More on aQuantive, which includes Avenue A and Razorfish, biggest online ad agencies. Did they overpay, he asks rhetorically? It is a big opportunity; billions of economic value will be created; it was competitive situation, with two other bidders; we were delighted to have one that competitive bid; expect to close by mid-August; we are well on the way to driving integration…”

—Online ad revenue grew Q1 ‘07 5% growth, then 20%, 23%, 33% sequentially in following quarters. See excess of 20% in fiscal 2008; expect to grow faster than the overall online advertising market. Think there will very few significant players in advertising platform business; intend to be one of the top two.

Robbie Bach, president, Entertainment and Devices Division:

—Xbox Live now past 7 million members, more than 200 million content downloads. Should be 10 million next year.

—In case of Xbox Live Video Marketplace, now 28 content providers; just added Disney studios. Will grow over time; we are leading provider of on-demand high def content in the U.S. They download, they pay, it is a good business, and nicely integrated experience for our customers. Will expand this year to Europe and Canada. 

—From Q&A: Doesn’t see Netflix, Blockbuster as competitors for Xbox Live video download.

Chris Liddell, CFO:  Would he do another aQuantive? Possibly. “If we have to use our balance sheet to drive growth, we will.” ... this will be the first year that MSFT will spend more on acquisitions than R&D.

Also posts on talks by Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Ray Ozzie.

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