Microsoft Breaks Up With Internet Gold In Israel

Microsoft and Internet Gold have decided to break up and go their separate ways. The companies had been operating the msn.co.il portal under a cooperative agreement - they established MSN Israel Ltd. in 2000. MSN Israel Ltd is 50.1% owned by the Internet Gold Group and 49.9% owned by Microsoft Corporation.

Both companies have announced this morning that the msn.co.il portal site will become an independent property of Microsoft. Microsoft operates portal sites in 44 countries around the world. Most of the 44 sites are directly owned by Microsoft, sometimes (like in Israel) Microsoft partners with a local Internet company to grow adoption and usage.

Internet Gold has been changing their Internet strategy and they report that in 2007, MSN Israel accounted for less than 3% of Internet Gold's total revenues.

It looks like there might be some employee and advertiser transition into the new structure.