Google Can SINA Evil

A humbled Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is taking a page out of the Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) playbook and teaming up with an overseas rival to have a greater shot at mattering in a key foreign market.

With Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU) owning the Chinese search market, Google's role as the distant runner-up can't be too much fun. That is the likely explanation for Google teaming up in a revenue-sharing search-advertising deal with popular Web portal operator SINA (Nasdaq: SINA).

Yes, Yahoo! knows the process all too well. It teamed up with Softbank in Japan and Alibaba in China. The end result for Yahoo! is a minority stake in major dot-com properties. Sure, it would be great to own a hot foreign website whole, but you've got to take what the market will give you. In competitive Asian markets, where the locals prefer to back local outfits, these are the kind of deals that need to be brokered.

It's the right approach. Even the mighty Mr. Softy can be humbled. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) turned over to Baidu its paid search business for its MSN China site six months ago.

Naturally, all of these moves are temporary quick fixes. In a few years, maybe they can give it another shot on their own. However, until then, like any potential Mount Everest climber, having a good Sherpa at your side is the best way to navigate overseas obstacles.

For related Foolishness:

• Google Cuts Out the Middleman
• SINA Ads and Subtracts
• The World Is Your Oyster

Yahoo! and SINA are Stock Advisor recommendations. Microsoft is an Inside Value selection. Baidu is a Rule Breakers pick. Sample any newsletter with a free 30-day trial subscription.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of overseas Internet stocks, with or without stateside partners. He does not own share in any of the companies in this story. He is part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.