WebProNews

It's not as if Eric Schmidt switched sides; Cesar Mascaraque was hardly a central figure.  Still, we have to applaud Ask for snatching up the former Googler, and think Mascaraque's experience will serve his new company well.

At Google, Mascaraque was the head of strategic partnerships and business development for southern Europe.  At Ask, beginning on February 4th, he will be the European managing director.  A decent fit, no?

Mascaraque told Ian Williams in reference to Ask, "I have watched the brand set itself apart from competitors by pioneering new products and offering innovative ways of bringing search to users.  I look forward to working with the international teams to build on this already successful model."

Sounds good, and again, we're happy for both Ask and Mascaraque.  One almost has to wonder how Yahoo, and not Google, feels about all this, though - with layoffs being discussed most often in connection with Yahoo Europe, a decent managing director might have come in handy there.

Ah, well.  We'll see how this plays out for all three search companies over the next few months.