Is Google Search Poised to Switch to Yahoo Japan?

Is Google Search Poised to Switch to Yahoo Japan?

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In what would be a stunning blow on the massive search alliance among Microsoft and Yahoo, Google is apparently zeroing in over a deal to grab the algorithmic search corporation for Yahoo Japan, stated quite a few sources.

The agreement among Yahoo Japan as well as the U.S. search giant could possibly be announced as early as these days in Japan, sources said, and could possibly be component of the bigger deal among the 2 corporations close to cellular or other products.

The agreement among Yahoo Japan and also the U.S. search giant could possibly be announced as early as these days in Japan, sources said, and could possibly be component of the bigger deal among the 2 companies close to cellular or other products.

Financial terms of this sort of a deal have been unclear.

News on the deal could occur when Yahoo Japan announces its financial final results at 3:10 pm Japan time on July 27 that may be 11:10 pm PT today.

If Google (GOOG) and Yahoo Japan join together, the pair will manage virtually the entire industry share of search inside the Japanese market. It is not clear whether or not paid search is part of this deal at this time.

But in search query volume, Yahoo Japan currently has just over a 53 percent share in the search market and Google has just more than 38 percent.

It is often a monopoly in comparison to Microsoft, which has virtually a 3 percent share.

Yahoo Japan just isn't definitely owned by Yahoo, which holds a 35 percent stake. Softbank Corp. includes a stake of close to 40 percent.

Both SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son–one in the very first key investors in Yahoo–and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang sit over a board of Yahoo Japan, that may be operated independently and run by President and CEO Masahiro Inoue.

When Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) struck their wide-ranging look for and on the web on-line advertising and marketing partnership last year, Yahoo Japan–which now uses Yahoo technology for algorithmic search–was free to select whatever search service it wanted.

That meant it was not obligated to use Microsoft’s Bing technology, which will be powering Yahoo during the U.S. by the end on the year, along with in quite a few other nations wherever Yahoo operates.

But, mainly because Yahoo Japan is its unique entity, any these kinds of deal was being negotiated among the parties, putting Yahoo Japan in play, significantly as if it have been AOL (AOL) or News Corp. (NWS) unit MySpace from the U.S.

Both those people signed search deals with Google–and each are also now up for renewal.

Coincidentally, Bing just entered the Japan market with its branded search, but it has only a smaller share there.

And, ironically, Yahoo Japan’s Inoue stated in an job interview in January using a Japanese news corporation that he was not impressed with some other Google services, just like its Street View mapping service.

In any case, if Yahoo Japan and Google do buddy up, it’s clear that Microsoft will almost certainly try to block the deal from gaining regulatory approval in Japan, a lot during the exact same way it did efficiently when Google tried to enter into a deal with Yahoo inside U.S. in 2008.

That deal crashed and burned right after government opposition became evident.

It will also be intriguing to determine which search technology the Alibaba Group, which owns Yahoo’s name in China and of which Yahoo itself owns 40 percent, will select or if it'll do search on its own.

Like Yahoo Japan, Alibaba–which is utilizing Yahoo’s search and email technology now–is also not obligated to switch to Bing after Yahoo does. These kinds of a deal can be subject to negotiation.

That said, Google’s relations with China remain tense, which could} play a role in any talks with Alibaba.

Emails and calls to spokespeople at Yahoo, Yahoo Japan and Soft Bank searching for confirmation have been not returned as yet. Microsoft declined to comment.