Mozilla Firefox in danger ? Foundation risks losing its main source of income

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In August, Google lost the antitrust lawsuit against the U.S. government over its search engine. “After carefully reviewing the testimony and evidence, the court has concluded that Google is a monopoly and has acted to maintain that monopoly,”, explained U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta of the District of Columbia.

Now, the U.S. courts must determine what steps to take to end the practices in question. And as we mentioned in a previous article, the government has requested that Google be broken up, which means it will have to separate itself from its Google Chrome browser.

However, it is not certain that the American justice system will take such an extreme measure. On the other hand, it could, for example, prevent Google from paying third-party browsers to offer Google Search as their default search engine. Such a measure could mechanically reduce Google's market share in search. It would also cause significant financial losses for Apple, which receives billions of dollars thanks to its agreement with Google Search. But in addition to that, Mozilla, the foundation that offers the Firefox browser, could lose its main source of income.

86% of Mozilla's revenue comes from search engines

As a reminder, Mozilla is not a company, but a foundation. And while it has tried to diversify its revenue streams, it still relies heavily on payments from Google. According to a Mozilla document, in 2022, of the $593 million generated by the foundation, $510 million came from “royalties.” That’s about 86%.

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“Mozilla integrates its customers’ search engines as a default status or as an optional status available in the Firefox web browser. Mozilla typically receives royalties corresponding to a certain percentage of the revenue earned by its customers through its search engines integrated into the Firefox web browser,” the document also reads. If the American justice system decides to prevent Google from entering into this type of agreement with Mozilla, the foundation would lose its main source of income. It is worth noting that the foundation has already commented on the verdict handed down by the judge in the Google trial in August.“Mozilla has always championed competition and choice online, particularly in search,”, a spokesperson said, according to Fortune magazine. “We are carefully reviewing the court's decision, considering its potential impact on Mozilla and how we can positively influence next steps… Firefox continues to offer a range of search options, and we remain committed to serving our users' preferences while fostering a competitive marketplace.

• As of December 2, Mozilla Firefox has over 160 million monthly active users.
• Google loses antitrust lawsuit in the United States
• And if the government recommends a breakup, the courts could also simply block the agreements that allow Google to pay browsers to be the default search engine
• Such a decision would be catastrophic for Mozilla, 86% of whose revenues come from search engines

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