Posted on November 23, 2009 by by Valeri

“Microsoft has held talks with News Corp over a possible plan for the software giant to pay the media company to remove its news websites from Google, a report said Monday.” AFP

The plan sets a scene for a battle between search engines for access to websites, and puts pressure on search juggernaut Google to start paying for content, the Financial Times said.

“This is all about Microsoft hurting Google’s margin,” an unnamed source was quoted as saying.

But the biggest beneficiary of the tussle could be the newspaper industry, which has yet to construct a reliable online business model that adequately replaces declining print and advertising revenues.

In a possible sign of negotiations to come, Google last week played down the importance of newspaper content.

Matt Brittin, Google’s UK director, told a Society of Editors conference that Google did not need news content to survive. “Economically it’s not a big part of how we generate revenue,” he said.

The question we will all be asking is how can Microsoft and News Corp hurt Google? sure there are many other methods but whatever methods they use I am sure it will create a great online war and I can’t wait to see who will become the first “Internet Idol”.

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