Bing and Microsoft

Late last month, Microsoft search engine Bing announced a 10 year partnership with media giant AOL. The deal is set to begin in January of 2016, and will allow Bing to manage the search function across AOL's vast portfolio of sites. While a deal between these two industry giants may sound like a drop in the bucket in the business world, the real story lies in the David and Goliath style fight that has lead up to the announcement. 

Since the early 2000's, AOL had contracted Google to manage it's search functions. The dominant tech giant is widely considered the authority in the search engine industry, and currently holds about 64% of the core search share in the United States. In comparison, Bing holds just over 20% and is scraping together every stone it can throw at it's industry rival.  According to Microsoft, "Bing continues to grow organically as well as through key partnerships," and plays an "integral part [in] popular first- and third party devices and services." With AOL on their side, the future looks bright, as AOL has considerable influence both domestically and over seas. 

As the dog fight for market share continues, Bing will continue to make efforts towards establishing itself as a formidable opponent. While this may not be the stone that puts David on the map, the loss of this 10 year deal will certainly have Google on it's toes.