Current:Home > NewsMicrosoft CEO says unfair practices by Google led to its dominance as a search engine -FutureFinance
Microsoft CEO says unfair practices by Google led to its dominance as a search engine
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-07 16:07:32
WASHINGTON (AP) — Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Monday that unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine, tactics that in turn have thwarted his company’s rival program, Bing.
Nadella testified in packed Washington, D.C., courtroom as part of the government’s landmark antitrust trial against Google’s parent company, Alphabet. The Justice Department alleges Google has abused the dominance of its ubiquitous search engine to throttle competition and innovation at the expense of consumers, allegations that echo a similar case brought against Microsoft in the late 1990s.
Nadella said Google’s dominance was due to agreements that made it the default browser on smartphones and computers. He downplayed the idea that artificial intelligence or more niche search engines like Amazon or social media sites have meaningfully changed the market in which Microsoft competes with Google.
Nadella said users fundamentally don’t have much choice in switching out of default web browsers on cell phones and computers.
“We are one of the alternatives but we’re not the default,” he said.
Nadella was called to the witness stand as the biggest U.S. antitrust trial in the past quarter-century moved into its fourth week of testimony before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who isn’t expected to issue a decision in the case until next year.
The Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google centers on deals the company struck with Apple and other device makers to use Google’s search engine.
In the 1990s, Microsoft faced accusations it set up its Windows software in ways that walled off applications made by other tech companies, just as Google is now facing accusations of shelling out billions of dollars each year to lock in its search engine as the go-to place for finding online information on smartphones and web browsers.
In an ironic twist, the constraints and distractions posed by the government’s antitrust case against Microsoft helped provide a springboard for Google to turn its search engine into a dominant force. By the time Microsoft started its scramble to develop its own search engine, Google had already become synonymous with looking things up on the internet.
But Microsoft nevertheless has poured billions of dollars 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 was working at Microsoft during the late 1990s antitrust showdown with the Justice Department, succeeded Ballmer as CEO in 2014. During his tenure, he has steered to Microsoft huge gains in personal and cloud computing that have boosted the company’s stock price by nearly nine -fold since he took over while creating more than $2 trillion in shareholder wealth.
Despite all that success, he hasn’t been able to make any significant inroads in search against Google, with Bing still a distant second in the market.
veryGood! (286)
Related
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- You Won't Believe These Stars Have Never Been to the Met Gala
- Prince William's Role in King Charles III's Coronation Revealed
- Lily Collins Delivers the Chicest Homage to Karl Lagerfeld at Met Gala 2023
- Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
- Haley Lu Richardson Checks In on Her White Lotus Character's Possible Fate
- A Coal-Mining Environmentalist? Virginia Executive Says He Can Be Both
- Gigi Hadid and Leonardo DiCaprio Reunite at Star-Studded Met Gala 2023 After-Party
- Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
- Glen Powell and Girlfriend Gigi Paris Break Up
Ranking
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Get 2 It Cosmetics Hello Lashes Lash Volumizing Mascaras for Less Than the Price of 1
- Celebrity Hairstylist Sarah Potempa Shares 3 Fun, Fuss-Free Looks for Stagecoach
- 9-1-1 Cancelled by Fox, Saved by Another Network in TV Shocker
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Seth Meyers Admits Being Away From the Kids Is the Highlight of Met Gala 2023 Date Night With Alexi Ashe
- Nordstrom Limited Time Beauty Deals: Drybar, St. Tropez, MAC, It Cosmetics, Giorgio Armani, and More
- Ariana Madix Appears to React to Joke About Tom Sandoval at White House Correspondents' Dinner
Recommendation
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
Paris Hilton Proves She's Sliving Her Best Life at First-Ever Met Gala
BaubleBar's Sitewide Jewelry Sale Has Amazing Deals Starting at $10
Kim Kardashian and Ex Pete Davidson Reunite at 2023 Met Gala 8 Months After Breakup
Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $300 Backpack for Just $96
Stanley Tucci Shares How Wife Felicity Blunt Supported Him Through “Brutal” Cancer Battle
Get 2 It Cosmetics Hello Lashes Lash Volumizing Mascaras for Less Than the Price of 1