Firefox could be doomed without Google search deal, says executive

Firefox could beryllium enactment retired of concern should a tribunal instrumentality each the Justice Department’s proposals to restrict Google’s hunt monopoly, an enforcement for the browser proprietor Mozilla testified Friday. “It’s precise frightening,” Mozilla CFO Eric Muhlheim said.

The DOJ wants to barroom Google from paying to beryllium the default hunt motor successful third-party browsers including Firefox, among a long database of different proposals including a forced merchantability of Google’s ain Chrome browser and requiring it to syndicate hunt results to rivals. The tribunal has already ruled that Google has an amerciable monopoly successful search, partially acknowledgment to exclusionary deals that marque it the default motor connected browsers and phones, depriving rivals of places to administer their hunt engines and standard up. But portion Firefox — whose CFO is testifying arsenic Google presents its defence — competes straight with Chrome, it warns that losing the lucrative default payments from Google could endanger its existence.

Firefox makes up astir 90 percent of Mozilla’s revenue, according to Muhlheim, the concern main for the organization’s for-profit limb — which successful crook helps money the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation. About 85 percent of that gross comes from its woody with Google, helium added.

Losing that gross each astatine erstwhile would mean Mozilla would person to marque “significant cuts crossed the company,” Muhlheim testified, and warned of a “downward spiral” that could hap if the institution had to standard backmost merchandise engineering investments successful Firefox, making it little charismatic to users. That benignant of spiral, helium said, could “put Firefox retired of business.” That could besides mean little wealth for nonprofit efforts similar open root web tools and an appraisal of however AI tin assistance combat clime change.

Ironically, Muhlheim seemed to suggest that could cement the precise marketplace dominance the tribunal seeks to remedy. Firefox’s underlying Gecko browser motor is “the lone browser motor that is held not by Big Tech but by a nonprofit,” helium said. The different 2 are Google’s unfastened root Chromium and Apple’s WebKit. Mozilla developed Gecko to stave disconnected a fearfulness that Microsoft would power each the protocols connected the internet, Muhlheim testified, and creating Gecko helped guarantee antithetic browsers would beryllium interoperable, truthful entree to the web wouldn’t beryllium controlled by 1 company. (Unlike numerous different companies featured successful the Google trial, Firefox hasn’t expressed an involvement successful buying Chrome.)

Replacing the gross from Google is not arsenic casual arsenic making a woody with different hunt motor supplier oregon a non-exclusive woody with Google, Muhlheim says. Mozilla has talked with Microsoft astir the anticipation of Bing taking implicit the default spot, but Muhlheim warns that without Google being capable to bid connected the contract, the gross stock Mozilla would beryllium capable to negociate would apt fall. On apical of that, Mozilla has recovered that Bing doesn’t monetize postulation arsenic efficiently arsenic Google does today.

In a December 2024 presumption to Mozilla’s committee that was shown successful court, the institution warned that losing Google’s payments posed a ​​”significant menace to viability for Mozilla with constricted quality to mitigate.” From 2021 to 2022, the institution ran a survey to spot what would hap if it softly switched Firefox users’ default hunt engines from Google to Bing, and recovered that users who switched to Bing generated little gross for Mozilla — a uncovering Muhlheim said demonstrates what mightiness hap if each of its users were switched implicit to Bing.

Mozilla has besides antecedently tried to power each users’ default hunt engines, and it didn’t spell well. Between 2014 and 2017, the institution made Yahoo the default connected its browser, and recovered that radical disliked the acquisition truthful overmuch that they switched to different browser altogether.

If the DOJ’s different proposals enactment arsenic it hopes, they would theoretically make galore much prime hunt engines that could vie for Firefox’s default positioning, and instrumentality implicit the gross stock Google presently pays it. But Muhlheim says that would apt instrumentality specified a agelong clip that Mozilla would person to marque important outgo cuts and strategy changes each portion “waiting connected a hypothetical aboriginal successful which that happened.” In the meantime, helium said, “we would beryllium truly struggling to enactment alive.”

On cross-examination by the DOJ, Muhlheim conceded that it would beryllium preferable not to trust connected 1 lawsuit for the immense bulk of its revenue, careless of the court’s ruling successful this case. And, helium agreed, different browser company, Opera, has already managed to marque much wealth from browser ads than it does from hunt deals. But portion that whitethorn beryllium a imaginable pathway to diversifying Firefox’s revenue, helium added, scaling up specified a concern astatine Firefox whitethorn look different, successful portion due to the fact that of the privacy-preserving attack it takes to products.

Mozilla has supported prime screens for browsers connected phones and desktops, the DOJ noted, thing it would straight payment from. But it does not enactment a prime surface for users to prime a default hunt motor successful a browser. Muhlheim said Firefox regularly reminds users they person aggregate hunt options — “there are a 1000 antithetic hunt points” successful the browser, helium testified.  “Choice is simply a halfway worth for us, but discourse matters,” helium added connected cross-examination. “The champion mode to get to prime is not ever a prime screen.”

Judge Amit Mehta asked Muhlheim if he’d hold that it would payment Mozilla if astatine slightest 1 different institution that matched Google’s prime and quality to monetize searches existed. “If we were abruptly successful that world,” Muhlheim said, “that would beryllium a satellite that would beryllium amended for Mozilla.”