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It has been revealed that Google pays Apple a ton of additional cash thanks to Safari. What do I mean by additional? Well, on top of what Apple gets to keep Google Search as the default search engine across its portfolio.
Google pays a ton of additional cash to Apple thanks to Safari browser
This report actually comes from Bloomberg, following Kevin Murphy’s testimony. Now, Kevin Murphy is an economics professor at the University of Chicago, and he testified on behalf of Alphabet in a court case against the Justice Department.
In any case, it was revealed that Google pays 36% of all ad revenue it generates via Safari browser (through Google Search) to Apple. That was supposed to be kept under wraps, but it’s another detail that surfaced.
As a reminder, Google paid Apple “around $18 billion” back in 2021 to be the default search engine on Safari, across Apple’s portfolio of products. That number could be even higher these days, of course.
We’re likely looking at tens of billions of dollars here
So, how much is 36% of all ad revenue via Safari? Well, we can’t say, the exact numbers were not revealed. However, we’re likely talking about tens of billions of dollars. Google’s total revenue in 2022 was $279.8 billion, and the majority of that came from advertising. Considering how many people use Safari… it’s safe to say we’re looking at billions upon billions of dollars here.
For those of you who are out of the loop, Google and the DOJ have been at it for quite some time. A lot of information was revealed during the court case, even though many things were kept under the rug.
The DOJ is trying to prove Google is using its resources to maintain market dominance. Google, on the other hand, is trying to prove no wrongdoing in its business over the years. The trial is set to last for around two months, and it started on September 12, so… we should be near the end at this point.