Microsoft-owned MSN is going to part ways with its JV partner Internet Gold in Israel, and will be running MSN Israel portal on its own from October this year, the two companies announced. IG is an Internet-related holding company in Israel, and has been MSN’s local partner since 2000...MSN Israel is 50.1 percent owned by the Internet Gold Group and 49.9 percent owned by Microsoft....now Microsoft will buy the 51.1 percent stake.

The two companies currently discussing the terms of separation/migration and possible future cooperation, and msn.co.il portal will continue to operate throughout the transition period. No clear reason was given for this separation, except to point out that in almost all of the 44 countries that MSN operates in, it is fully owned by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). In 2007, MSN Israel accounted for less than 3 percent of Internet Gold’s total revenues, which is around $360 million...IG has moved towards holding in telecom and communications, and online portal activities represent a small part of its focus now. More details here.

Meanwhile in U.S., MSN has swapped out Expedia as its travel partner, and Orbitz Worldwide’s sites Orbitz.com and Ebookers.com websites have replaced it in the U.S. and UK respectively. The change, which Orbitz said could bring about 3.5 million visitors per month to Orbitz via MSN Travel, represents a blow to Expedia, which began life in 1995 as a Microsoft company, reports Reuters.

• Internet Gold Acquires 51% of Israeli-Arab Portal Yahala