Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO informed that his company is all set to spend 5 to10 % of its operating income on developing its search business.

Steve, speaking at the Executives' Club of Chicago, said that Microsoft should have entered the online search-engine market sooner and it could not be dissuaded by initial setbacks against rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

He is ready to give Microsoft's Bing search engine more time to make it popular with customers.

Speaking on the issue, Steve said, "In our industry, the No. 1 mistake that people make is that they quit too early. If you look back at any great technology business, it took a while to build up."

Microsoft, with its share of 8% in the U. S. searches, lags far behind Google and Yahoo.

During the trading hours, Microsoft witnessed a plunge of 0.76 percent at $23.50 per share.

Microsoft's Bing search engine was launched on June 1 and has managed to get decent attention and positive reviews from media and technology experts. Microsoft's Bing looks more promising that earlier search solutions rolled out by Microsoft.