Microsoft has claimed that its attempts to sell Bing to Apple were thwarted by Google. Mikhail Parakhin, the CEO of Microsoft’s Advertising and Web Services, revealed at a federal antitrust trial that Microsoft had offered Apple more than 100% of the revenue or gross profit to make Bing its default search engine. However, Apple rejected the proposal due to its existing deal with Google. Despite Microsoft offering to pay Apple more than Google, which was reportedly offering around 60%, the deal did not materialize. The exact value of Microsoft’s offer to Apple was not disclosed.
Apple’s decision to reject Microsoft’s higher offer suggests that its deal with Google is not solely driven by financial considerations. This supports Google’s argument that it has a superior product. However, it highlights the significance of default search engine status, as Microsoft was willing to incur substantial losses for the position. Microsoft believed it presented a better deal to Apple compared to Google, based on estimates of the revenue payments Google made to Apple in the US.
In addition to Apple, Microsoft also tried to pitch the idea of making Bing the default search engine to Samsung. However, these conversations were shut down by Samsung in their early stages. Microsoft urged Samsung to at least consider a competitive offer to rival its deal with Google, but negotiations were dismissed due to the contract with Google. This news highlights the competition and importance of default search engine status in the tech industry.