Yahoo Japan Acts Googley
August 3, 2010
Yahoo Japan has decided to give the search engine nod to Google. On a slow news day, the snubbing of Microsoft caught our attention in Harrod’s Creek. The war of words has erupted. Concerned over a monopoly, Microsoft lead attorney Brad Smith called the decision anti-competitive and has compared it with a failed deal earlier within the U.S. Yahoo market place. Google has replied, saying it was due to good old fashioned fair business practices. “Google Outdeals Microsoft in Japan” said:
Under the terms of the new alliance, Yahoo will use Google’s search and advertising platform technology to power its site, matching Google’s superior tech with its own, highly popular content portals. In Japan, Google hasn’t quite enjoyed the success it has elsewhere around the world, trailing Yahoo in search dominance. This new deal makes it the cock of the walk; according to the New York Times, Google and Yahoo together comprise 90.5 percent of the Japanese search market. (If you’re wondering why Yahoo would cut against Microsoft like this, the answer is that Yahoo is actually a minority owner in its own Japanese property; the biggest shareholder is the cell phone company SoftBank.)
Being able to provide Yahoo Japan with the necessary search engine technology will only broaden Google’s reach throughout the world. Already the largest search engine available, this is due in part to ad revenues associated with key word searches. These ads are projected to have a 27 percent increase over the next three years in Japan alone.
With Google expanding into yet another region, Yahoo Japan is poised to shift into high gear. Will this be a long, drawn out fight among the competitors? Yep. How much did this deal cost Google? How much will this deal cost Microsoft? No data yet.
Glenn Black, August 3, 2010
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