this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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The Google antitrust ruling could be an existential threat to the future of Firefox | Financials show 86% of Mozilla's revenue came from the agreement keeping Google as Firefox's default search engine (www.techspot.com)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
173 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Mozilla has a close relationship with Google, as most of Firefox's revenue comes from the agreement keeping Google as the browser's default search engine. However, the search giant is now officially a monopoly, and a future court decision could have an unprecedented impact on Mozilla's ability to keep things "business as usual."

United States District Judge Amit Mehta found Google guilty of building a monopolistic position in web search. The Mountain View corporation spent billions of dollars becoming the leading search provider for computing platforms and web browsers on PC and mobile devices.

Most of the $21 billion spent went to Apple in exchange for setting Google as the default search engine on iPhone, iPad, and Mac systems. The judge will now need to decide on a penalty for the company's actions, including the potential of forcing Google to stop payments to its search "partners completely," which could have dire consequences for smaller companies like Mozilla.

Its most recent financials show Mozilla gets $510 million out of its $593 million in total revenue from its Google partnership. This precarious financial position is a side effect of its deal with Alphabet, which made Google the search engine default for newer Firefox installations.

The open-source web browser has experienced a steady market share decline over the past few years. Meanwhile, Mozilla management was paid millions to develop a new "vision" of a theoretical future with AI chatbots. Mozilla Corporation, the wholly owned subsidiary of Mozilla Foundation managing Firefox development, could find itself in a severe struggle for revenue if Google's money suddenly dried up.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Everybody forgets that if chrome and chromium breaks away from Google because of this ruling, it's going to have the same issues as Firefox, if not worse because it's an arguably worse product. The ruling has been pronounced, but what will happen because of it is yet to be defined.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (2 children)

That's not it at all. The issue is funding Mozilla. Having it as the default search engine is something google currently pays them for the right for. If the DOJ says that's anti-trust practices, then Google stops paying Mozilla for that right, and 80% of Mozilla's funding dries up overnight.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I feel like the real problem is Google paying Apple, since they're both major players, not Google paying Mozilla. Firefox is not a major player at all (unluckily...)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I believe I remember reading that Apple gets a share of the money from google searches by their users, too. That's an absurd amount of incentive to sit on your ass and never try anything different.

I'll try to add a source here, later.

Edit: it is now later:

An expert witness for Google let slip that the company shares 36 percent of search ad revenue from Safari with Apple.

Source - The Verge article

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I feel like the real problem is Google paying Apple, since they're both major players, not Google paying Mozilla. Firefox is not a major player at all (unluckily...)

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why would Chrome/chromium break away? Isn't this just about the search engine side of things? There's no need to dump Chrome if all they need to do is drop themselves as the default search engine.