Report: Microsoft Bing may indeed replace Google as Firefox's default search engine

Nearly two years ago, back in September of 2021, Mozilla announced that it was testing Microsoft's Bing as the default search engine on its Firefox browser. This was part of of the month's SUMO (SUpport MOzilla) study announcement. Now, a new report suggests that Microsoft too is eyeing a contract with Mozilla in a bid to replace Google as the default Firefox search with its own Bing.

The report comes via The Information which claims, citing sources close to the matter, that senior Microsoft executives are keen on a deal with Mozilla this year as the contract with Google is due for renewal by the end of the year.

It is fair to assume that Microsoft is probably looking to gain some traction and close some of the gap in terms of market share with Google as the latter continues to be an absolute behemoth. Latest Statcounter data suggests that Bing's share has mostly been static. The latest figures has Bing at 2.79% which is far behind Google's 92.63%. Meanwhile, Statista suggests Bing actually dropped off since October last year, when it had peaked at 9.92% share. The latest March percentage share puts Bing at 8.23. However there is some positive here though, as Bing has increased its share slightly compared to last month.

Perhaps Microsoft hopes to capitalize on the buzz around AI chatbots. The New Bing itself has seen increased engagement as a consequence of this. The search engine reached 100 million active users recently in March. As it does from time to time, Microsoft seemingly tried pushing some users onto Edge via a recent Patch Tuesday update, where it was opening Default Apps page up when it noticed users were on Google Chrome.

Source: The Information

Report: Microsoft Bing may indeed replace Google as Firefox's default search engine