Microsoft Will Pay Content Providers to Dump Google
In a marketing ploy so draconian and heavy-handed as to be reminiscent of the original X-box launch, Microsoft is now offering to pay-off publishers if they delist their content from Google’s indexes.
Sounds crazy, but it’s true. Microsoft have approached News Corp and offered to pay them to de-list from Google’s search indexes. So you have some idea of how big a deal this is, News Corp owns the Wall Street Journal, MySpace and dozens of other publishers and news sources around the world. They are the second biggest media group in the world after Disney.
Google have already gone on the record and said that news content isn’t a huge money-spinner for them, but it begs the question: how much money is Microsoft willing to throw around?
They have one of the largest cash reserves in the world. And let’s face it, content providers drive the Internet. If Microsoft is really this serious about securing a slice of the search pie, you might begin to see ‘Bing exclusive’ content very soon.
It won’t stop with News Corp — slowly but surely searching for news on Google will become impossible. And then MySpace music pages won’t turn up in your searches either.
