(BuildingWebsiteNews) Microsoft's Bold Bid For Net Icon Yahoo Takes Aim At Google - CNNMoney.com

It determined it needed to make such a bold move to gain ground on Internet search — and search ad — leader Google GOOG . But joining two also-rans together isn't a winning strategy for the search ad race, says Dave Stepherson, vice president for Hardesty Capital Management, an investment firm that owns 281,000 shares of Microsoft. Yahoo and Microsoft separately launched paid search ad services about a year ago to better compete against Google. Microsoft's proposal is as much a defense of its core businesses of Windows and Office as it is an effort to grab a larger share of the online ad market, says Matt Rosoff, an analyst at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. The deal amounts to an acknowledgment by Microsoft that its efforts to grow an online ad business using MSN and Windows Live have failed, Rosoff says. Intraday data provided by ComStock , an Interactive Data Company and subject to the Terms of Use . read more

[Tags]microsoft, search, data, , online, business, buildingwebsitenews[/Tags]