Verizon Executive Tells Google Judge Company Didn’t Seek Rival Search Bids
- Verizon ditched Microsoft Bing as default search tool in 2011
- Google web-search deals are focus of US antitrust claims
Google says it has won market share because it has the best search engine.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A Verizon Communications Inc. executive told a judge that when the company recently renegotiated Google’s deal to be the default search engine for customers’ mobile phones, the telecom carrier didn’t bother seeking out alternatives offered by Microsoft Corp. or DuckDuckGo.
“I’m not aware of us soliciting bids,” Verizon’s Brian Higgins said Monday during an antitrust trial in Washington to determine if Alphabet Inc.’s Google maintains a monopoly in the online search business. He didn’t say why Verizon failed to seek competing offers.