Mozilla Might Suffer the Gravest Consequences of the Google Antitrust Ruling ⇥ techspot.com

Alfonso Maruccia, TechSpot:

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.

Jason Del Rey, Fortune:

Mozilla is putting on a brave face for now, and not directly addressing the existential threat that the ruling appears to pose.

“Mozilla has always championed competition and choice online, particularly in search,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Fortune on Monday. “We’re closely reviewing the court’s decision, considering its potential impact on Mozilla and how we can positively influence the next steps… Firefox continues to offer a range of search options, and we remain committed to serving our users’ preferences while fostering a competitive market.”

It is possible Mozilla will not be impacted by remedies to Google’s illegal monopoly, the details of which will begin to take shape next month. It seems possible Mozilla could be losing virtually all its revenue, thereby destabilizing the organization behind one of the few non-Chromium browsers and the best documentation of web technologies available anywhere.

Trying to untangle an illegal monopolist is necessarily difficult. This will be a long and painful process for everyone. The short-term resolutions might be ineffectual and irritating, and they may not change Google’s market position. But it is important to get on the record that Google has engaged in illegal conduct to protect its dominance, and so it will be subjected to new oversight and scrutiny. This exercise is worth it because there ought to be limits to market power and anticompetitive behaviour.