Microsoft has, however, not reacted to this upcoming development. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had hinted that search was his company’s key growth initiative and over 1 billion search queries originated on the social media network each day. However, Facebook is taking every precaution in dealing with this sensitive issue. A spokesperson for Facebook has pointed that despite the company shrugging off Microsoft, relations between both companies are strong as they have partnerships in many other areas. It is noteworthy that Bing is the second largest web search provider in United States and occupies up to 20 percent of the market share. Microsoft and Facebook have been together since 2007 when the former made an initial investment of $240 million in the social media network for a 1.6% stake in the company. Microsoft had then provided banner advertisements on Facebook. However, this association lasted till 2010 when Facebook decided to take matters in its own hands and took control over the advertising business.
