Microsoft-Yahoo! would have ´limited impact´ on Google´s monopoly of search

The combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! would make for a powerful alliance, but not in terms of search.

That is according to Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise, who has assessed how the duo would stack up against internet giant Google.

Mr Tancer found that together, Microsoft and Yahoo! would achieve a 15.6 per cent market share of all US internet visits.

At the end of January, Google had a 7.7 per cent share.

However, the picture is rather different for search volume. In this area, Mr Tancer projected that Yahoo! Search and MSN Search would obtain a 27.84 per cent share over a period of a month.

By contrast, in January 2008, Google achieved 65.98 per cent of all US searches.

Mr Tancer commented: "While the deal would have limited impact on Google´s continued dominance of search, the combined content of Yahoo! and MSN properties yields an impressive list of top sites by industry category."

Last week Microsoft made an unsolicited bid of $44.6 billion (£22.6 billion) to buy out Yahoo!.