Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced that their board of directors has approved a share repurchase program that authorizes $40 billion in share purchases.  The share repurchases expires on September 30, 2013.  After declaring the share repurchase, the board also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share.  This is two cents (18%) higher than the previous quarter’s dividend. 

“These announcements illustrate our confidence in the long-term growth of the company and our commitment to returning capital to our shareholders,” stated Chris Liddell, CFO of Microsoft.  S&P rated Microsoft corporate credit ratings of AAA and Aaa.  About a month ago, an analyst at UBS predicted that Microsoft would buy back about $20 billion. 

The last time that Microsoft authorized a transaction this large was when the company made a bid to acquired Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) on February 1st. 

Oops!  Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) just made a goof.  Microsoft launched a commercial that had celebrities and several average Joes claim that they were “a PC.”  The metadata on the creative copies of the images and videos on the Microsoft website were created using Adobe Creative Suite 3 for Macintosh.

The celebrities and the average Joes on this commercial should say that they are PCs, but run on Macs.  The metadata of the images and videos were modified later on.  Below is a screenshot from Flickr user LuisDS:

The audio was also mixed on Macs according to a source at RoughlyDrafted.  About 5 years ago, Microsoft fired an employee for posting a picture of PowerMac G5 computers being delivered to the software company.  Microsoft Zune inventor J. Allard also once placed a recycle bin for iPods at the Zune offices.

As much as Microsoft denies it, they need Apple.  And vice-versa.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Steve Ballmer believed that he would retire when his youngest child would go to college in about 9 or 10 years.  Now he’s ready to leave only after Microsoft beats Google in search market share.  Yahoo! and Microsoft are both continuously dropping in search market share against Google.

Ballmer made this announcement on Thursday at the annual Microsoft employee meeting.  What will make this even more difficult is Google’s current search dominant market share position.  Below are the Compete.com statistics as of the beginning of the year:

[image credit: Compete Blog]

Not only is Google catching up to in terms of market valuation, the search engine company jumped about 10 spots from the previous year in the Interbrand Best Global Brands List.  Microsoft is at #3 and Google is now at #10. 

Yesterday, Microsoft Corporation launched their I’m A PC Campaign and based on what I’ve seen on the blogosphere, the people loved it compared to the Seinfeld ads.  To complement the I’m A PC campaign, Microsoft launched a new viral marketing website.  The company wants you to send your picture or video proclaiming that you are a PC too.  If your video or picture is interesting enough, your face will show up on a big screen in Times Square in New York or on the website.

The website is called Get Into the Campaign and they are taking a very YouTube like approach.  YouTube wants you to put videos online of yourself expressing your personality, but in this case Microsoft makes it easy for you by giving you the first line of the video that must be said.  Microsoft is running this whole campaign to improve their image from the PC vs. Mac ads.  This is the perfect timing to run this campaign because the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) PC vs. Mac ads are losing their flair.

Microsoft has also hired UFC fighter Rashad Evans for some of their next ads.  Evans is known for knocking out Chuck Liddell this past month.  Erick Schonfeld suggested that they use Evans to beat the crap out a guy that looks like Mac actor, Justin Long. 

Earlier today, I wrote about a new and upcoming Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) advertisement.  I think that this advertisement gets the point across a lot better than the Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates advertisements.  Crispin Porter confirms that Seinfeld and Gates will be returning in future ads, but they have put those on pause for now.  Check out the new ad below and let me know what you think in the comments:

What I like about this ad is that it showcases the global impact that PCs have. Rather than creating an ambiguous advertisement about nothing, Microsoft shows a montage of celebrities and regular Joes.  Satish Kanwar e-mailed Sean Siler, the star of commercial and received an auto-response, pasted below (it’s pretty funny, you won’t be disappointed):

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is putting their ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld on pause for the time being.  The $300 million campaign will continue to march forward with a new theme.  The new theme is a rebuttal against the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) ads, Mac vs. PC.  The new Microsoft ad will start with a commercial that features an engineer that resembles John Hodgman, the actor that plays “PC” on the Apple ads.  The new ad even starts by saying “Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” 

Crispin Porter & Bogusky came up with the new campaign idea.  Microsoft is even bringing several celebrities on board as part of the campaign that includes Eva Longoria (Desparate Housewives), Deepak Chopra (author), and Pharrell Williams (musician).  Others featured in the commercials will include 60 Microsoft employees.

“[Apple executives have been] using a lot of their money to de-position our brand and tell people what we stand for,” stated David Webster, General Manager of brand marketing for Microsoft [NYT].  “They’ve made a caricature out of the PC.”  Through this campaign, Microsoft wants to take back the narrative. 

When Microsoft launched the Seinfeld ads, the reviews were 25% positive and 13% negative.  The ads became less negative as time went on.  “It did what it needed to do,” stated Rob Reilly, Partner and co-executive creative director of Crispin Porter. “People who got it, got it.”

The new ad campaign will be beginning tonight.  There is no word on whether Seinfeld will return to additional Microsoft ads or not.  Other clients of Crispin Porter includes Ad Council, Bell Sports, Burger King, Coke Zeo, Compass Bank, Domino’s Pizza, Geek Squad, Giro, International Andy Awards, KNOW HIV/AIDS, Sprite, Volkswagen, and Old Favorites.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) acquired Powerset for a rumored $100 million on July 1st.  Since then Microsoft and Powerset have been working away to integrate search technologies into Live Search.  Some of the integration projects include Freebase Answers, improved captions for Wikipedia results on Live Search, and related searches.  These features are only available for several results and users.  Depending on the feedback, Live Search will keep the best features and remove the rest of them.

Powerset uses technologies uses xRank for biographies and Factz to to display better related search results.  Microsoft originally bought Powerset in an effort to compete with Google search relevance.  From an overall brand perspective, Microsoft has a long way to go in order to compete with Google for search engine market-share.

Apparently Microsoft has opened up their fat wallet to bring more users to Live Search.  Microsoft made a deal with HP to have the Windows Live Toolbar preinstalled on PCs.  Microsoft also hired Kowabunga to have affiliates push the downloading of Windows Live Toolbar.  Microsoft is willing to pay $2.50 per download of the Toolbar.

Dr. Scott Prevost, General Manager of Powerset and Dr. Hugh Williams, Primary Development Manager of Live Search published additional details on the Powerset blog.

Today is Steve Jobs’ day.  Today is the day in history where Steve Jobs left Apple (1985) and the day where he came back to rejuvenate the company (1997).  This is why we’ve decided to pick on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) today with the Top 10 Microsoft Mistakes.  Microsoft has done great things in revolutionizing the PC industry, but everyone needs roasting… So in celebration of Steve Jobs day, let’s get this list started.

10. Bill Gates Runs Like A Girl
G4TV’s Attack of the Show created a viral video called “Bill Gates Runs Like A Girl.” In this video, an Attack of the Show host dresses up like Steve Jobs and asks “What is that, is that any way for a CEO to enter a conference?  Apple says no.  Which is why we are offering that video of Bill Gates prancing around as a free download on iTunes.”

9. Bill Gates Runs Away After The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Interview
Jon Stewart asked Bill Gates about whether computers have met expectations.  Stewart also asked Gates whether computers have evolved as fast as he thought they would.  Bill Gates said there are a lot of things left to be done with that vision. After Jon Stewart thanked Bill Gates for being there, the Microsoft CEO just took off.  Typically The Daily Show guests hang back on the couch after being thanked for being there and make small talk before the show cuts to a commercial.  Gates didn’t get that memo.  Check the video below:

8.) Steve Ballmer’s 1986 Windows 1.0 Advertisement
Steve Ballmer, the current CEO of Microsoft made an advertisement for Windows 1.0 in 1986.  The world’s most used operating system was once pitched like an infomercial.  How much do you think Windows 1.0 costs?  $500?  $1000?  No, only $99!  Except in Nebraska.  Sorry, Cornhuskers.

7.) Steve Ballmer Laughing At The iPhone
“Hahaha $500, fully subsidized with a plan, I said that is the most expensive phone in the world.”  The phone doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard, eh?  Eight million iPhones were manufactured in the last year alone.  While Ballmer laughs at the iPhone, Apple laughs all the way to the bank.

6.) Steve Ballmer Monkey Boy Dance
I’ve never seen someone dance so enthusiastically with Gloria Estefan’s Get On Your Feet in the background.  Ballmer is courageous, but there is no way that this can’t be embarrassing.

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Brian Lam at Gizmodo was sent an e-mail by an anonymous person at Kowabunga.  The e-mail was about The Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Affiliate Network offer to push installations of Windows Live Toolbar.  For each toolbar that is installed through the Affiliate Network, the payout will be $2.50 this month and $1.50 each month after. 

This is another way that Microsoft is pushing the use of their toolbar over Google’s.  Prior to this announcement, Microsoft signed a deal with Hewlett Packard to ship copies of PCs preinstalled with the Windows Live Toolbar. 

Below is a copy of the e-mail via ValleyWag: