Microsoft said to be keen on getting Firefox search deal as Google contract expires
Yongyuan Dai
As Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) continues to turn the heat up on Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the search market, the company is reportedly looking to bid on one of the larger search deals in the market.
The leaders of Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing search engine have told colleagues they want to bid on the Mozilla Firefox search contract, according to The Information, which cited two people with direct knowledge of the discussions.
Neither Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) nor Microsoft (MSFT) immediately responded to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) is currently the default search engine for Firefox, which had 2.76% of the browser market as of April 2023, according to StatCounter. Conversely, Google's Chrome has the vast majority of the browser market, at nearly 63.5%, followed by Apple's (AAPL) Safari at 20.5%.
Earlier this year, Microsoft (MSFT) revamped its Bing search engine and incorporated artificial intelligence features into its redesigned search engine via its deal with ChatGPT creator, OpenAI.
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) is slated to host its annual I/O developer conference today, where it is expected to unveil significant changes to how it shows search results.
Some of the purported changes may include incorporating an artificial intelligence program to have conversations with, as well as video clips.
Both Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) shares rose 0.6% in early trading on Wednesday.
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