Goldberg is leaving Microsoft to work as "chief executive of the online business at the Peak6 investment company," TechFlash reported. Mike Nicholls, another longtime Microsoft employee, will replace him beginning in January.

Bill Shaughnessy, who led advertising sales in the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group (part of the Online Services Group), is leaving Microsoft in March, AdAge reported last week. Advertising sales are being moved out of Online Services and into "Microsoft's centralized Sales, Marketing and Services Group led by chief operating officer Kevin Turner," Microsoft said earlier this month. "This group, called Consumer & Online, will be led by Corporate Vice President Darren Huston and will include the Global Advertising Sales and Services organization, led by vice president Bill Shaughnessy."

Brian McAndrews, the former CEO of Seattle digital ad company aQuantive who led the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft, is also leaving. His decision was announced at the same time that Microsoft said it had hired Qi Lu to become president of the Online Services Group -- a job for which McAndrews was said to be a candidate. McAndrews is transitioning out of the company "over the next several months, serving in a consultative capacity to Steve Ballmer and Qi Lu during that time," Microsoft said.

Qi Lu is the biggest new name on the org chart. He takes over the Online Services Group Jan. 5. Check out this profile for more details on the challenges he will face and how his experience at Yahoo has prepared him.

Prior to Lu, Microsoft landed Sean Suchter, another former Yahoo search executive who is joining Microsoft as general manager of the company's Silicon Valley Search Technology Center. Beginning Dec. 22, he will be working on Live Search and reporting to Harry Shum.

Mary Jo Foley, summarizing these changes and others within the Live Search business, asks if the turmoil will ever end.

Two other notable personnel moves of late:

James Hamilton, a Microsoft data center strategist -- technically a "data center futures architect" -- who was heavily involved in the company's work on "containerized" data centers, is leaving to work at Amazon. (Via TechFlash.)

Jack Krumholtz, Microsoft's longtime (and original) Washington, D.C., lobbyist, is ending his Microsoft career, the company announced earlier this month. His replacement as managing director of federal government affairs, beginning in January, is Fred Humphries, who has led the company's state government affairs efforts since 2000.