According to the report released by barclays bank on Monday, the impact of the antitrust lawsuit filed against Google (GOOG.US, GOOGL) by the US Department of Justice is minimal for microsoft (MSFT.US). Barclays upgraded microsoft to a 'shareholding' rating, with a target price of $475.

Analyst Raimo Lenschow from Barclays stated in the report: 'Since Bing accounts for only a small portion of microsoft's total revenue (5% of total revenue in the 2024 fiscal year), it seems that the impact of any developments has largely been overlooked, especially by many software investors who are unaware of the ongoing investigation. However, after the long-awaited proposed ruling by the US Department of Justice, we believe that microsoft investors should pay more attention to the final outcome of this case.'

Lenschow stated that if the remedies include terminating Google's revenue-sharing agreements with other global companies, or Google integrating its search services, Bing may gain some market share. Consequently, Google may be forced to provide some technology to its partners and provide search text ads to US partners within a year, while retaining only 10% of its total revenue.

"At the same time, Google is only allowed to integrate 25% of search text ads, meaning partners (like apple) will need to fill the remaining search ads either through their own technology or through new partners like Bing," added Lenschow. "In theory, this will provide a unique opportunity for microsoft to gain market share for a period of time."

While this may be positive for microsoft, Lenschow acknowledges that in the short term, there will only be 'slight changes', and it will take at least until 2027 to feel any impact from this case.