Microsoft has invested $100 billion in Bing, says Satya Nadella during Google antitrust trial

What you need to know

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified at the United States Justice Department's antitrust trial about Google today.
• Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has been accused of maintaining a monopoly in search by using unlawful practices.
• Nadella is one of many who will testify during the trial, and he will focus on how Google's actions prevent even a company the size of Microsoft from competing in search.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified at an antitrust trial by the United States Department of Justice Monday, October 2, 2023. Rather than discussing the myriad of legal battles Microsoft has been involved in recently, Nadella spoke about Google's dominance in search. The CEO is one of many executives that the Department of Justice will call upon to discuss how Google maintains such a strong hold in the search market.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has been accused by the DOJ of maintaining a search monopoly through unlawful practices, including paying $10 billion per year to wireless carriers and smartphone makers to keep Google as a default search engine. Bloomberg reported on Nadella speaking at the trial and shared the CEO's comments.

Unlike some trials, members of the media are not allowed to live-blog the Justice Department's antitrust trial against Google. Some snippets of information have been shared during the trial, but we haven't seen a plethora of quotes or extensive reporting of Nadella's testimony. Even Frank Shaw, lead of communications for Microsoft, said he wished he could hear what was going on as it happened.

Following Nadella's testimony, Bloomberg shared some of the insight provided by Nadella.

"You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth and you search on Google," said the CEO when discussing how much Google is part of people's everyday lives.

Nadella's comments come on the heels of details of a saga involving Bing potentially becoming the default search engine for Apple hardware. Jonathan Tinter, a Microsoft business development executive, discussed the drama. According to Tinter, Microsoft offered better terms than Google, but Apple ultimately decided to have Google as the default search engine on its hardware.

Nadella claimed that Apple used Microsoft to “bid up the price." Many suspected that Apple engaging with Microsoft regarding default search engines was a tactic to increase how much Google would pay to remain the default, and Nadella's testimony appears to confirm that to be the case.

"Do you think Google would continue to pay Apple if there was no search competition? Why would they do that?" asked Nadella.

Microsoft's CEO also discussed the fact that the tech giant had spent $100 billion on Bing. He explained why that level of investment was needed as well.

"I see search or internet search as the largest software category out there. We are a very, very low share player,” said Nadella. “But we continue to persist in it because we think of it as a software category we can contribute to.