Mozilla’s ‘Failed’ Bet on Yahoo Takes Spotlight in Google Trial
Mozilla Foundation's decision to switch the search engine built into its Firefox browser to Yahoo from Google was a “failed” bet that degraded the user experience, the company's chief executive said.
Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Baker said Mozilla decided to switch to Yahoo's technology in 2014 after CEO Marissa Mayer took over and promised “to make a big bet on us.”
“That bet failed,” Baker said in a videotaped interview from 2022 played Wednesday in Google's defense during the Justice Department's antitrust trial. “The search experience that Yahoo was providing to Firefox users deteriorated.”
The Mozilla example — the only situation in which a browser has switched the default search engine provider — has been cited by both Google and the Justice Department to support their arguments in the case. The Justice Department argues that by paying as much as $26 billion in 2021 to be the default on mobile phones, PCs and other devices, Google has unfairly choked off potential competitors such as Microsoft Corp. and DuckDuckGo. Google says that users prefer its services and can easily switch if they want.
Yahoo agreed to pay Mozilla a minimum of $375 million — more than the $276 million a year that Google was offering, Baker said. It also agreed to reduce the number of ads and offer less user tracking than Google, but over time Yahoo reneged on that and began showing more advertising, she added.
Back to Google
“I felt strongly that Yahoo was not delivering the search experience we needed and had contracted for,” Baker said.
Mozilla switched back to using Google in 2017 and renewed its agreement in 2020, Baker said.
Baker also acknowledged that her salary is partly tied to Mozilla's yearly revenue. She said she made $2.5 million
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