Thursday, April 28, 2011

Goldman Sachs has no research analyst covering Microsoft

Corrected version

It's been three months since Goldman Sachs stopped following Microsoft when its research analyst left, and the investment bank that took Microsoft public has not found a replacement.

Sarah Friar, Goldman's previous research analyst and co-lead of Goldman's Technology Business Unit, left in January. She had reported about Microsoft to Goldman Sachs' investment clients since 2007.

Last week, Friar joined Salesforce.com as senior vice president of finance and strategy, the San Francisco company confirmed Tuesday. Salesforce.com, a Microsoft competitor, makes cloud-based customer relationship management software, also known as CRM, and has a cloud computing platform called Force.com.

Salesforce.com declined to make Friar available to comment on the career change.

Friar was one of the most influential analysts covering Microsoft. In October, she downgraded Microsoft from a "buy" rating to "neutral."

Gia Moron, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs, said Tuesday by email that no one is currently covering Microsoft for the financial firm.

This story was originally posted at 11:54 a.m. and updated at 12:25 p.m. on April 26, 2011. The earlier post incorrectly stated that Sarah Friar left Goldman Sachs in December, based on information provided by Goldman Sachs.

Ana Ivanovi Jessica Cauffiel Emmanuelle Vaugier Sarah Silverman Larissa Meek

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