Google Search Engine Replaced by Yahoo in Mozilla Firefox - Analyst Blog

Search giant Google Inc.’s (GOOGL) traditional competitor, Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) replaced the former as the default search engine for the Firefox web browser.

Yahoo struck a deal with Firefox creator Mozilla Corp. to become its default search engine for the next five years in the U.S. on both mobile devices and desktops.The deal will be effective this December, where Yahoo will introduce an updated interface for its search tool.

The deal offers a structure to discover future product integrations and distribution opportunities inother markets. Microsoft will continue to power Yahoo’s search technology as part of a 10-year agreement Yahoo signed in 2009.

Google has been the default search engine for Firefox since 2004. The relationship between Google and Mozilla has been deteriorating since Google introduced the Chrome browser in 2008, which competes with Firefox. Even Mozilla has been trying to build its own operating system for smart devices in direct competition with Google’s Android.

Firefox is the third most popular browser after Google Chrome and Internet Explorer. This is indeed a much bigger win for Yahoo as it will ramp up its search business, search engine market share and advertising business, thereby boosting its revenues.

On the other hand, the competitive landscape has changed a lot in the last few years and Google cannot afford to miss any opportunity to maintain its lead in the search and advertising market with competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft (MSFT) doing their best to pick up market share. Recently, Apple (AAPL) also replaced Google’s search with Microsoft’s Bing as its default search engine.

Reportedly, e-commerce service provider eBay Inc. (EBAY) has also replaced Google’s AdWords sponsored text ads with Microsoft’s Bing ads on mobile devices.

Apart from dropping Google in the U.S., Mozilla is also switching Firefox to Baidu’s (BIDU) search engine in China and Yandex has become the new default in Russia.

While Google shares hold a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), Yahoo shares carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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