Bing rings up search gains, dinging Google, Yahoo
SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft's souped-up Internet search engine gained a little more ground on industry leaders Google and Yahoo in July, according to data released late Monday.
Despite the progress, Microsoft's search engine still remains a distant third in the United States — the main reason that the world's largest software maker plans to team up with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo next year.
By working together in online search, Microsoft and Yahoo are betting that they can pose a more serious threat to Google in the most lucrative part of the Internet advertising market.
Microsoft's search engine — renamed Bing as part of a June overhaul — ended July with a 8.9% share in the United States, up from 8.4% in the previous month, according to comScore. Just before Bing's debut, Microsoft's search market share stood at 8%.
Google retained a commanding U.S. lead at 64.7% through July, down from 65% in June, comScore said. Yahoo's market share dipped to 19.3% in July from 19.6% in June.
Microsoft shares fell 44 cents, or 1.9%, to close Monday at $23.25. Google shares shed $15.11, or 3.3%, to finish at $444.89 while Yahoo shares closed at $14.56, down 48 cents, or 3.2%.
Bing attracted 29 million more search requests in July than it did in June, a 2.4% increase to 1.21 billion, comScore said.
The relatively modest gains haven't come cheaply for Microsoft. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is spending $100 million to promote Bing, adding to the billions that it has already invested in a mostly fruitless pursuit of Google.
In its last two fiscal years, Microsoft's online division lost a total of $3.5 billion. Meanwhile, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google has emerged as a bigger threat to Microsoft by mining ever bigger profits from its dominant search engine.
Google is on pace to sell more than $20 million in online ads for the second straight year, with most of the revenue coming from short marketing messages placed alongside search results. The recession, though, has been pinching Google, like most companies.
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