• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, March 20, 2007 10:30 AM

Here's a story you don't hear everyday: Google's got itself a dissatisfied search partner. So dissatisfied, the partner is considering abandoning the search giant for one of its competitors-Microsoft.

And it's a major partner, too. Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable operator, is negotiating to use Microsoft's search services on its broadband portal because it thinks Google takes too big a share of the revenue. Comcast is also negotiating with Google about extending the existing relationship, although the cable giant finds other aspects of the deal to be irksome, too.

Comcast is wielding considerably more muscle power these days, which is probably why it finds itself in a position to take the most attractive offer. The company has more than 24 million monthly cable Internet subscribers--second only to AT&T in broadband--and some 15 million keep Comcast.net as their home page.

The site's search engine is powered by Google, which last year brought in roughly $70 million, but Comcast contends that that share should have been closer to $100 million. It also argues that Google doesn't provide enough information on how it uses data from its users. Even if Comcast leaves Google, it wouldn't affect the search giant much: $100 million is small potatoes for a company that made more than $10 billion in revenue last year.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »