Google likely to put massive effort into Yahoo Japan contract renewal – Bernstein

In a note to clients Thursday, Bernstein analysts said the firm believes Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:) Google is highly likely to put a massive effort into renewing the contract with Yahoo Japan.

The note follows a report by Nikkei Asia, which states Yahoo Japan is weighing up ending its search engine deal with Google.

According to the report, Yahoo Japan is considering having another company provide its search engine technology, which is currently supplied by an affiliate of Google. The contract is said to expire at the end of March 2025.

However, Bernstein said: “We still believe Google is highly likely to put a massive effort into renewing the contract with Yahoo JP.”

“Yahoo JP may also want to keep the highly customized search service it used over the last decade; MS will likely compete against Google in Japan.”

In addition, the analysts said that Naver may not be the winner in this game, despite being Yahoo JP’s mother company, and as a result, they do not revise their top-line and EPS for the three companies based on the headline.