Microsoft CEO vowed to 'kill' Google: Ex-employee

That's what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to do when one of his employees told him he was joining the Internet search engine company.

Kill Google. That's what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to do when one of his employees told him he was joining the Internet search engine company, according to court documents filed on Friday in a bitter legal battle between the IT rivals.

The allegation, filed in a Washington state court, is the latest salvo in a courtroom battle triggered when Microsoft executive Kai-Fu Lee jumped to Google in July this year in what Microsoft claims is a violation of a one-year, non-compete agreement, CNET News.Com reported.

In a sworn statement, key Windows and .Net architect Mark Lucovsky, who left Microsoft for Google in November 2004, recounted Ballmer's angry reaction when he told Ballmer of his decision to work for the search engine company.

'At some point in the conversation, Mr Ballmer said: 'Just tell me it's not Google,'' Lucovsky, whose title at Microsoft was 'distinguished engineer,' said in his statement.

Lucovsky replied that he was joining Google.

'At that point, Mr Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office,' Lucovsky recounted in a sworn declaration.

The 16-year Microsoft veteran, added that Ballmer then launched into a tirade against Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

'I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google,' Ballmer reportedly said.

The remarks apparently refer to Schmidt's previous stints as an executive at Sun Microsystems and Novell, two Microsoft competitors.