Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reportedly discussed selling Bing to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a replacement for Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, with Cupertino executives expressing skepticism about the former’s ability to compete with the search giant.
What Happened: During discussions held around 2020, executives from Microsoft met with Apple’s services chief, Eddy Cue, to explore the possibility of Apple acquiring Bing. These talks, although exploratory, never progressed to an advanced stage, reported Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Although Bing briefly served as the default search engine for Siri and Spotlight from 2013 to 2017, Apple eventually returned to Google. Bing remains an optional search engine for Safari.
On Thursday, Microsoft’s Jon Tinter also shared insights on the company’s consideration of a multibillion-dollar investment in its 2016 relationship with Apple to surpass Google and make Bing the default choice on Apple ...