How Microsoft's pub ended up being run by a Google employee |
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How Microsoft's pub ended up being run by a Google employee
Don't worry, Google's competitive strategy doesn't involve filling Microsoft employees up with beer. But in a strange twist of fate, one of the co-owners of the pub on Microsoft's Redmond campus is now a Google employee -- not because the pub's ownership changed hands, but because Google bought his other company.
Jonathan Sposato, CEO of Picnik, the online photo-editing company purchased by Google last week, is also one of the owners of the Spitfire bar in Belltown and its satellite facility at Microsoft's headquarters. As we reported last week, Sposato and the rest of the Picnik team are joining Google as part of the acquisition.
In the annals of technology rivalries, this must qualify as a first. We joked about it on our most-recent podcast and realized afterward that it was worthy of a broader mention on the site.
Sposato, who also worked previously as a Microsoft games executive, told us last week that he doesn't foresee any complications arising from the situation -- pointing out that Microsoft knew when the Spitfire lease was signed last year (after a bit of drama) that he had sold another company, PhatBits, to Google back in 2005.
Of course, it's one thing to have sold a company to Google years ago, and another to be working for the search company, but it appears that this will just be one of those weird pieces of regional tech trivia that people will be able to pass along while tipping back a few pints.
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