 Canada.com | Microsoft to Spend $2.5 Billion a Year To Keep Pace in Race With ... Washington Post - By Dina Bass and Amy Thomson Microsoft plans to spend at least $2.5 billion a year for the foreseeable future to compete with Google because the opportunity in online advertising is too big to ignore, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said ... Microsoft: What Web Strategy? Microsoft says 'weird' Yahoo response killed deal |