Microsoft Chief Executive Accuses Google of Unfair Tactics in Achieving Search Engine Dominance
On Monday, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, claimed that Google’s unfair strategies have contributed to its search engine’s dominance, consequently hindering the success of Microsoft’s rival program, Bing.
Nadella testified in a packed Washington, D.C. courtroom as part of the government’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The Justice Department alleges that Google has abused its dominance as a ubiquitous search engine to limit competition and innovation at the expense of consumers. The allegations mirror a similar case brought against Microsoft in the late 1990s.
Nadella said Google’s dominance came from deals that made it the default browser on smartphones and computers. He played down the idea that artificial intelligence or smaller search engines like Amazon or social media sites have significantly changed the market in which Microsoft competes with Google.
Nadella said that users basically don’t have much choice when it comes to switching out the default browsers on mobile phones and computers.
“We’re one of the options, but we’re not the default,” he said.
John Schmidtlein, Google’s general counsel, questioned Nadella about cases where users switched from Bing to Google even though Microsoft’s search engine was the default mode on their devices — arguing that Microsoft made mistakes with Bing that prevented it from competing with Google.
When asked, Nadella denied that Bing’s introduction of AI would have led to dramatic changes in its market share. Google has argued that AI programs such as chatbot ChatGPT have increased competition in the search engine market.
“Even app store downloads are interesting, but not … something to write home about,” Nadella said of Microsoft’s revamped search engine, enhanced with artificial intelligence.
Nadella was called to the witness stand as the largest US antitrust trial in the past quarter century entered its fourth week of testimony before US District Judge Amit Mehta, who is not expected to rule on the case until next year.
The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google centers on agreements the company made with Apple and other device manufacturers to use Google’s search engine.
In the 1990s, Microsoft faced accusations that it installed its Windows software in ways that blocked applications made by other tech companies, just as Google now faces accusations of paying billions of dollars each year to lock down its search engine. a place to find online information on smartphones and web browsers.
In an ironic twist, the restrictions and distractions caused by the government’s antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft helped provide the springboard for Google to turn its search engine into a dominant force. By the time Microsoft started developing its own search engine, Google had already become synonymous with finding things on the Internet.
But Microsoft has nevertheless poured billions of dollars into trying to mount a serious challenge to Google with Bing, and at one point even tried to buy Yahoo for more than $40 billion in a bid that was rejected while Steve Ballmer was still the software maker’s CEO.
Nadella, who worked at Microsoft in the late 1990s during the Justice Department’s antitrust crackdown, succeeded Ballmer as CEO in 2014. During his tenure, he has guided Microsoft to huge gains in personal and cloud services that have boosted the company’s stock price nearly ninefold since he took over and created more than 2 trillion dollars to shareholders.
Despite all his success, he has failed to make significant headway in search against Google, as Bing is still far behind in the market.
