Microsoft Weighed Investing Billions in Apple to Take on Google Search
During a court hearing, a Microsoft vice president revealed that in 2016, Microsoft considered investing a significant amount of money in Apple Inc. The purpose of this investment was to establish a partnership that would make Microsoft’s Bing search engine the default option on Apple’s Safari browser. This move was aimed at enhancing competition with Google, which currently holds a dominant position in the search engine market.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Apple CEO Tim Cook as part of the talks, said Jon Tinter, Microsoft’s director of business development, who is present at the US Justice Department’s antitrust trial in Washington against Alphabet. Microsoft would have made a loss on the investment, Tinter said, but it would have empowered Bing to ultimately gain more share and revenue.
