Marissa Mayer Wants Apple To Drop Google For Yahoo Search: Re/code

Marissa Mayer Wants Apple To Drop Google For Yahoo Search
Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., pauses during a session on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 44th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the five day event runs from Jan. 22-25. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., pauses during a session on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 44th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the five day event runs from Jan. 22-25. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's Chief Executive Marissa Mayer is working on a plan to persuade Apple Inc to ditch Google as its default search engine in favor of Yahoo, technology news site Re/code reported, citing sources within Yahoo.

Mayer's effort is in advanced stages, with a detailed pitch already prepared for Apple executives, the website said. (http://link.reuters.com/hez58v)

Yahoo senior vice president of mobile and emerging products, Adam Cahan, is working on the effort too.

Mayer, a former Google executive, has managed to get support from some Apple executives, including longtime acquaintance Jonathan Ive, according to the Apple Insider blog. "Mayer has supposedly wrangled support from a few Apple execs including longtime acquaintance Jony Ive," Apple Insider said.

Design head Ive exerts enormous influence over strategy and products in engineering and design-heavy Apple.

Google search, which has been the default search engine in iOS and powered Apple's Safari Web browser used on iPhones and iPads for quite some time, pays Apple about $1 billion per year for traffic driven to its servers and subsequent ad network, Apple Insider said, referring to the same rumors.

Apple's decision to stick with Google's services over the years also reflects a desire to maintain a familiar user experience, the blog said. (http://link.reuters.com/jez58v)

Yahoo on Wednesday again posted anemic quarterly revenue growth as the Internet company's advertising business continues to lag its rivals, nearly two years into Mayer's comeback effort.

Mayer is trying to revitalize Yahoo's business, revamping many of its Web products, but its ad sales business continues to struggle while rivals such as Google, Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc continue to post strong, double-digit revenue growth.

(Reporting by Sampad Patnaik in Bangalore; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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