More details on Facebook’s nascent dedicated UK operations – opening this week, the Soho Square, London, office “will start with a five-strong team and is aiming to employ more than 50 staff within a year“, says Media Week. We know one of the five will be ex-Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) UK commercial director Blake Chandlee; head of agency strategy Stephen Haines and group head Jon Harvey are tipped to join him after quitting the portal in Chandlee’s wake.
He is expected to detail Facebook’s UK ad platform on Wednesday and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) commercial director Chris Ward tells Media Week the effort will involve Windows Live Search and banners and will be part-powered by technology acquired from the $6 billion acquisition of ad firm aQuantive. The continuation of Microsoft’s international Facebook ad deal would provide important continuity. Yahoo in September struck a wide-ranging deal to power Bebo’s ads, but the migration of three Yahoo staff to Facebook clearly hasn’t been enough to encourage the social net to look elsewhere.