Do we have a competitor for Google?
The news that Microsoft and Yahoo have joined forces under an agreement which will see Microsoft power Yahoo's search engine and Yahoo look after premium advertising for the two companies has been well received by investors. Finally it looks as though we may well have a competitor for Google which has literally dominated the cyber world for many years.
This comes at a time when online retail has literally taken off in the UK with more and more people now looking to grab bargains and discounts where they can. The online arena had been showing significant improvement over the last few years, although the onset of a worldwide recession seems to have speeded up the conversion rate. It will be interesting to see how much of the search engine market and online advertising market that the Microsoft/Yahoo partnership can grab and what Google will do to fight back.
Even though the joint agreement will need to clear a number of regulatory hurdles over the coming months, it seems inconceivable that with Google dominating so much of the market place that the move could be blocked. We could be experiencing the next phase of growth in the UK and worldwide online retail market.
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