Microsoft say Bing can be a credible and profitable rival to Google

While Microsoft has ploughed over $5 billion into developing an online business in the last four years, they believe that ultimately, their offerings will prove profitable.

The senior vice president of Microsoft’s online audience business, Yusuf Mehdi, whose role is to ensure that Bing and MSN prove financially successful said:

“As soon as we close and implement the Yahoo deal, we have achieved a milestone: for advertisers, we are a credible No. 2.”

Microsoft currently have over 10 per cent of the US search market, which is an increase on the 8 per cent they had prior to the launch of Bing in June. However, it is in third place with Yahoo! boasting 17.3 per cent of the market and Google way out ahead with 65.7 per cent.

If the deal that will bring Bing and Yahoo! together is approved by regulators in the US, then Microsoft will have around 30 per cent of market share, which Mehdi believes is a significant proportion.

“The nice thing is we can say (to advertisers) you can be close to 30 percent share in one easy buy. That 30 percent carries a lot of weight in the marketplace.”