An executive responsible for some of Microsoft's biggest acquisitions has declared his intentions to leave the company, reports indicate. Bruce Jaffe, Microsoft's VP of corporate development, has announced that he will leave his position in February, with the stated goal of starting his own business. Jaffe has been with Microsoft since 1995, and is said to have been involved in the $240 million investment into Facebook, and the $6 billion purchase of the ad firm aQuantive. Microsoft just this week made an offer of $1.2 billion for the Norwegian search firm Fast Search and Transfer.

An unidentified source claims that Jaffe has been a "major player" in Microsoft's deal brokering, and that the decision to start a company of his own may have been driven by hunger for yet more mergers and acquisitions. Microsoft is expected to continue seeking out new buyouts regardless.

Other anonymous sources, close to Microsoft, suggest that the company is still interested in pursuing an acquisition of Yahoo, which would put it into even more direct competition with arch-rival Google. It is rumored that Microsoft may finally make last year's informal bid official, and buy Yahoo in a deal that could be worth as much as $50 billion. Today Reuters hinted that Microsoft may also be after Logitech, which would give it dominance in computer peripherals. [via The New York Post]