98% Of Mozilla’s Revenues Come From Search Deals

By | October 14, 2011 | 17 Comments

98% Of Mozilla's Revenues Come From Search DealsAccording to the audited financial statement (download PDF) released Monday, total revenues for 2010 were $121.1 million, up 18.1% from 2009′s $104.3 million.

Revenue growth last year was just over half that of the 34% increase Mozilla touted for 2009. This was the second annual report in a row that Mozilla did not disclose the individual amounts it received from its search partners.

Instead, in a FAQ tied to the report, Mozilla repeated nearly word for word a line it used last year: “The majority of Mozilla’s revenue continues to be generated from the search functionality included in our Mozilla’s Firefox product through all major search partners including Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Amazon, eBay and others.”

Historically, Google has accounted for most of Mozilla’s search royalties. In 2008, Google’s payments made up 88% of the total. That reliance on a rival often raises questions about Mozilla’s income stability, especially with Mozilla’s contract with Google expiring next month. Nevertheless…

These contracts are based on access to users who might be exposed to Google through the browser and Firefox still has a significant share that is worthwhile to pay for. I don’t see the value for Google to abandon that crowd because doing so is not going to help Chrome gain any more traction. – Al Hilwa, an analyst with IDC


About (Author Profile)


Being passionate about software, Armin joined FavBrowser.com in early 2011 and has been actively writing ever since. Having accepted the challenge, he also enjoys watching anime, indulging in good books, staying fit and healthy, and trying new things.

  • Guesty Guest

    If the contract is up for renewal in November then I am sure that talks
    are already under way, because you want the details sorted before the
    renewal date otherwise neither party knows where they stand.

    I
    don’t know how the deal works but they amount of money that Google pay
    to Mozilla must be minuscule in comparison to the money they make as a
    result of having close to half a billion users with Google as their
    primary search engine. Also Google are only funding Mozilla. They are
    not promoting them or directly writing code etc.

    As long as the
    money generated by having all those people using Google outweighs the
    cost of funding Mozilla the contract won’t end.

    But as I have read elsewhere, if Google ditched Mozilla, then Mozilla could just go and get into bed with someone else.

    Microsoft perhaps? Bing as the default search engine. What would that be worth?

    Could they do a deal with Facebook?

    Perhaps
    an investor that we’ve never heard of. Rich people wanting influence
    aren’t always famous, but there are plenty lurking in the shadows.

    • Asknobody

      If Google will ditch Mozilla or just pay much less money than now, Mozilla will be in serious trouble. Yes, Mozilla can partner more closely with MS or Facebook, and make default search engine Bing but majority of FF users would than be rioting. 
      Asa Dotzler already tried to convince users to jump Bing and that failed seriously
      http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2009/12/if_you_have_nothing.html
      It shows that Mozilla for a long time have been afraid of their financial dependence from Google. And now when FF significance are getting smaller everyday, Mozilla is quite screwed because their actions and words are hypocritical. For example,
      https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/video/?video=brand
      In this video you can find hits at Google and Microsoft, but without their money FF would be screwed. Would anybody pay for FF? No. And enterprise won’t give money because of fater FF development cycle, FF becomes less relevent in enteprises too

  • IE & Opera FanBoy

    If Microsoft gives you more money jump for US market. Google & Bing are at same quality in US market. This article claims even Bing better than Google in some areas http://searchengineland.com/google-vs-bing-the-fallacy-of-the-superior-search-engine-60928. Google fans can change to Google if they want in firefox or FF can give choice to users which search engine they should use. But with the growth of Chrome I don’t know how long Firefox can survive like this.

    • Asknobody

      When you are using a product or a service for a long time, then competitor must offer significantly superior product or service for you to make a switch. Maybe Bing is better at some areas than Google, but surely Bing is not overall superior service. I think most IE users uses Bing because its default not because they chose it. FF users would be enrage if Google won’t be default engine, because it will surely show that FF is interested more in money not what search engine is used by the most its users

      • CRcandy

        Bing just sucks outside US. And a lot of Firefox users are in ES so Bing is no no for them. 

        • Mikah

          Bing sucks everywhere , where are the advanced option’s search by time

          • IE & Opera FanBoy

            I never used those Advanced Option , Can you tell me some scenario where it is used for in real life? In general I get what I search for without using that Advanced option.

  • Anonymous

    The writing is on the wall for Mozilla.

    Mozilla should sell to Google and fold everyone into the Chrome Team.  Take the best parts of Gecko to improve Chromium, especially in the Extensions department.  Automatically replace Firefox with Chrome for all Firefox users.

    It may seem like throwing in the towel, but really it’s saving everyone the pain of watching this car wreck in slow motion.  Within 9 months of Chrome’s initial release, the trend was set, and there is no going back.

    • IE & Opera FanBoy

      Then Firefox will stop getting cake from Microsoft for their very release :(

      • Anonymous

        They’re just getting a single cupcake now anywayz. ;?

    • Armin

      That sounds beyond unrealistic.

      • Anonymous

        You’re right.  Google could never afford Mozilla.

        • Scorpion3003

          No because Mozilla would not be for sale.

          • Anonymous

            So the executive management would opt to go completely out of business, when the time comes?

    • Scorpion3003

      That’s probably the stupidest thing i ever read, Mozilla is not for sale nor will they fold in the chrome team. Automatically replace Firefox with Chrome for all Firefox users? I’m calling BS on that Firefox users would jump on back with IE or Opera before using chrome. No one would want that period. chrome is not all that damn special, the only thing chrome has is speed and sandbox. 

      Firefox is far from throwing the towel in, Firefox 7 is a damn good release and is getting better with 7 and above releases. how is Mozilla car wreck in in slow motion?

      • Anonymous

        A very small number of Firefox users might – MIGHT – go to Opera.  Some would go to IE, unless they’re on XP.  Chrome is very, very special.

        If a car wreck could lose marketshare and influence as it became more disfigured, then my metaphor is crystalline.

        • Scorpion3003

          I should of been more clear, i ment to say no one would want to see Firefox fold in my original post after users would switch. if anything chrome is actually doing Firefox a favor by having them improving the browser with the speedy release. i totally agree some will go to Opera or IE.

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