Mozilla claims its financial future is better without Google Search partnership

19 Feb 2019

Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit community behind the Firefox web browser, is feeling confident in earning revenues without the need of Google’s search deal. In an interview with CNET, Mozilla’s chief legal and business officer Denelle Dixon-Thayer said that Firefox’s revenue future is brighter than before.

Google (Alphabet, Inc.: GOOG) and Mozilla’s Firefox ended the search engine deal in December 2014, and Yahoo’s Merissa Mayor successfully signed a 5-year deal with Mozilla for search engine partnership. Currently, Firefox uses Yahoo Search as a default search engine in the United States, Baidu search engine in China and Yandex in Russia. Meanwhile, Firefox still uses Google.co.uk as default search engine in the United Kingdom, which could also be replaced by Yahoo or Bing soon.

Earlier, before the Yahoo/Yandex/Baidu deal, Mozilla Foundation was solely relied on Google Search to generate revenue for the company. When the deal ended in 2014, Google accounted for most of the $330 million revenue generated during the 2013-2014 financial period for Mozilla. Mozilla earned $163 million, $313 million and $314 million in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Mozilla could lose almost half of the last year’s revenue this year, but the non-profit organization sees a bright future for the company as it doesn’t want to rely on one company for revenue generation. This is why, Mozilla has expanded its partnership with Yandex, Yahoo and Baidu in different localities. Mozilla feels more flexibility than before, according to Danelle’s statement.

However, the Firefox for iOS browser will not have the flexibility for Mozilla, as they have to follow Apple’s rules to launch browser apps by adhering to the “core Apple browser technology” policy. Mozilla had to use Apple Inc’s browser technology core Webkit software package, instead of its own Gecko package.

Mozilla’s Chief Financial Officer Jim Cook said in a statement:

“We really look forward to displaying our results next year. 2015 will show our continued track record of really strong financial results.” Regarding its advance Web technology, Cook said,”There is a tremendous opportunity still to give control back to the user as they surf the Web and interact with apps.”

Firefox has to work hard to exist in the browser segment as it is the only browser with any sort of influence that isn’t operated or owned by any major tech firm. As of now, Google’s Chrome browser lead the browser market with its more than 53% of marketshare, while Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer fighting with each other for the second place with roughly 15% of the market. Apple’s Inc’s Safari browser is in 4th place with less than 10% marketshare and the other independent browser company Opera maintains the 5th position with only around 2% of the marketshare.

Despite Mozilla’s claims, it looks like Google (Alphabet, Inc.) is still the winner, because it still gets access to Firefox users via Yahoo’s search queries. It has been reported that in the United States, Yahoo Inc, is showing Google Search results for some queries, which means Google still manages to get the privilege in Firefox without paying for it.

View Other Reports