Top MSN exec to step down

Xiao Chen, Microsoft (MSFT.NASDAQ) MSN China’s Vice President of Sales will leave the company at the end of March to pursue his own startup, Reuters reported. Chen has been with the company since its founding, and his departure is expected to deal a blow to Microsoft’s efforts to penetrate China’s online social networking space. MSN China was launched in 2005 using a joint venture structure, but has struggled since against QQ, China’s most popular instant messaging service operating by Tencent Holdings (0700.HK). MSN China lost face last year when its microblogging site, Juku, was accused of pirating code from a competitor.