TECH - Microsoft Almost Sold Bing To Apple Back In 2018 But Google's Court Documents Reveal Why Deal Didn't Go Through | Benzinga
Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google has formally revealed in a recent court document that Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) had proposed to sell its search engine, Bing, to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) back in 2018.
What Happened: The disclosure came to light in a document unsealed on Friday, as part of Google’s ongoing antitrust case against the U.S. Justice Department.
The case is centered around Google’s alleged monopoly in web search advertising and its agreements with Apple to maintain its search engine’s exclusivity. Google also has agreements with Android phone makers to use its search engine as the default offering.
Google’s filing revealed that Microsoft had approached Apple multiple times between 2009 and 2020, proposing to make Bing the default search engine for Apple’s Safari web browser. However, Apple consistently declined, citing ...