REDMOND, Wash., July 28, 2003 — Judy Gibbons, the architect of MSN’s rise to the top among online portals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), has been appointed corporate vice president of the newly established MSN®
International group.
Gibbons, who most recently served as vice president of MSN EMEA, will in her new position direct overall sales, marketing and business development for MSN International. Formed earlier this month, the new group comprises all business outside North America for MSN, uniting hundreds of employees who manage MSN sites in more than 30 countries and serving more than 200 million PC users and mobile device users.
“The creation of the new MSN International group will better position MSN to manage a variety of business opportunities and challenges outside North America, and I’m very excited to have Judy lead it,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president for MSN at Microsoft Corp. “Judy’s experience and success leading MSN UK and MSN EMEA make her uniquely qualified to lead the teams that will continue to deliver a great experience to consumers around the world.”
Gibbons’ new position includes responsibility for maintaining MSN’s leadership in communication services and advertising sales as well as continuing to build a strong global subscription business. MSN now offers subscriptions such as MSN Extra Storage and MSN Mobile in more than 35 countries. MSN attracts more than 350 million global users each month, including more than 130 million users of Hotmail®
, the world’s largest free Web-based e-mail service, and 100 million users of MSN Messenger, the world’s largest free instant messaging service.
Gibbons Brings Eight Years of Success to New Position
After joining Microsoft in 1994, Gibbons launched MSN in the United Kingdom, building the business from a four-person operation to its current status as the United Kingdom’s No. 1 Internet portal.* During her 2 1-2-year tenure as vice president of MSN EMEA, Gibbons created a specialized European sales force, which significantly increased advertising revenues in fiscal year 2003. In the United Kingdom alone, 19 of the top 50 companies in the FTSE stock index now advertise on MSN, and client retention now stands at 82 percent.
Gibbons also oversaw the launch of MSN Internet subscription services, including the MSN 8 Internet Software subscription service in the United Kingdom and Spain earlier this year and in France and Germany just this week. In addition, she has led the growth of MSN Extra Storage and MSN Mobile Services in EMEA, an area set to become an increasingly important revenue generator for MSN. In May 2003, MSN Mobile services were available via 28 mobile operators, giving MSN the potential to reach 110 million mobile users in 15 countries across EMEA.
“We’ve built a strong business in EMEA — one that offers scalable solutions and delivers them according to local market conditions,” Gibbons said. “This formula appeals to both consumers and advertisers and is the same formula we’ll apply to MSN’s entire international market. I’m looking forward to the new challenge.”
Gibbons’ achievements have earned her rankings among Wall Street Journal Europe’s top 20 most influential European business women for two successive years, and as one of Time magazine’s five People to Watch in International Business for 2003. She also received the prestigious Microsoft®
Women’s Leadership Award in January.
About MSN
MSN attracts more than 350 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. MSN 8 is the first Internet software product to have earned the trusted Good Housekeeping Seal. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ . MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
* Nielsen//NetRatings May 2003
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