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Mozilla terminates its deal with Yahoo and makes Google the default in Firefox

184 points| pob1234 | 8 years ago |techcrunch.com | reply

98 comments

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[+] shubhamjain|8 years ago|reply
> As Recode reported last year, there was a clause in the Mozilla deal that would have the potential Yahoo acquirer pay $375 million per year through 2019 if Mozilla didn’t want to work with the buyer. This clause also allowed Mozilla to walk away at its sole discretion. We don’t know if Mozilla invoked this clause to terminate the agreement, but it seems likely.

Am I understanding this correctly? Mozilla will get paid $374M by invoking a clause at their own discretion. Sounds like a horrible deal to ratify. Was Yahoo that desperate?

[+] kenhwang|8 years ago|reply
In 2014, Yahoo looked to be in much better shape than it it is today. Sweeten the deal with a scenario that you don't think will happen and at the same time drop off a poison pill to defend against takeovers. Only problem was that Yahoo had to be better than Google at search. I'd say it was hubris, not desperation.
[+] Vinnl|8 years ago|reply
To be fair, it wasn't like there was a whole lot of incentive for Mozilla to use Yahoo! as the default, given as many people prefer Google. And especially with Yahoo! not doing so well, they would certainly not risk being associated with the likes of Verizon, a company that appears to be almost antithetical to Mozilla's mission.
[+] usrusr|8 years ago|reply
Desperation, covered under a thick layer of the fake confidence derived from positive thinking at all cost.

If the mission is to ensure survival as an independent entity and not maximising takeover value, then betting large amounts of post-takeover money would be logical, the obvious impact of such a bet on takeover bids would be "out of scope".

[+] Manishearth|8 years ago|reply
IIRC at the time there was a bidding war with Bing or something.
[+] azernik|8 years ago|reply
Not so transparently awful, since it was contingent on Yahoo being acquired, back when that prospect introduced a lot of uncertainty into any deals with Yahoo.
[+] JepZ|8 years ago|reply
> (Disclaimer: TechCrunch is part of Oath, Verizon’s roll-up of AOL and Yahoo, though nobody at TechCrunch that I know has ever willingly used Yahoo Search).

Just awesome :D

[+] CobrastanJorji|8 years ago|reply
I guess it speaks well of Oath that TechCrunch writers feel so safe dissing other branches of their conglomerate.
[+] vim_wannabe|8 years ago|reply
Firefox forwards people to Google, Google guides people to installing Chrome. Hmm...

It's not like Mozilla had a choice but its still pretty funny when you think about it.

[+] angrygoat|8 years ago|reply
Apparently this caught Verizon by surprise:

> "Yahoo and Mozilla have enjoyed a productive relationship together since 2014," said Charles Stewart, a spokesman for Verizon’s digital advertising business, Oath. "We are surprised that Mozilla has decided to take another path and we are in discussions with them regarding the terms of our agreement."

(Source: https://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-OZF67R6VDKHT...)

[+] sambe|8 years ago|reply
That sounds a lot like "we are going to try not to pay".
[+] azernik|8 years ago|reply
Just because the official line is "we are surprised" doesn't mean they're actually surprised. This came from a spokesman.
[+] mtgx|8 years ago|reply
My first thought about this was that Verizon was pushing for some additional tracking requirements with which Mozilla was not comfortable. Google may be a little more flexible in that regards. Or maybe Mozillians just don't like Verizon.
[+] qwerty456127|8 years ago|reply
Who needs Google when thee is DuckDuckGo anyway? Switched to DuckDuckGo (after getting mad of Google demanding me to solve captchas all the time) about a year ago... 100% satisfied.
[+] avh02|8 years ago|reply
while i've left DDG as my default search, it's not particularly good, i always find myself appending "!g" to get to google results instead... so much so that when google results are terrible (on some poorly worded searches or vague topics) i automatically append a "!g" by habit on google.

as for why i've left it as default? well it's just convenient to have the shortcuts.

[+] rnhmjoj|8 years ago|reply
Are you using a proxy or tor? I have never been asked a CAPTCHA on Google even with auto-deleting cookies and no javascript.
[+] Lxr|8 years ago|reply
> Historically, search engine royalties have been the main revenue driver for Mozilla. Back in 2014, the last year of the Google deal, that agreement brought in $323 million of the foundation’s $330 million in total revenue.

So basically Google was/is funding Firefox? Seems weird given the battle with Chrome for market share.

[+] richdougherty|8 years ago|reply
Google has funded Firefox since before Chrome was created. At that time Firefox was an important way to protect against Microsoft, which is able to use Internet Explorer to funnel traffic to Bing.

Now that Google has Chrome, I suppose the situation is a bit more nuanced. I imagine that for Google a Firefox install is still preferable to a Safari or Internet Explorer install. Also I suspect that Mozilla will often (although not always) be an ally to Google on web standards committees. Google (as the main web search engine) has a strong interest in growing the capabilities of web browsers and the web generally (vs other proprietary alternatives).

[+] GuB-42|8 years ago|reply
There is no real battle between Chrome and Firefox.

Google doesn't make money off Chrome, it is just a gateway to access profitable services. If Firefox gets users to the same place, there is no reason for Google to complain.

[+] kenhwang|8 years ago|reply
I see it as a Pepsi vs Coke or BMW vs Audi relationship. The head-to-head competition style gives the illusion that they're the only choices (thus removing Safari/IE from the conversation), and at the same time, both choices are under your influence.
[+] xuki|8 years ago|reply
Yes, because normal people will use whatever default search engine that comes with the browser. That means more ads money for the search engine.
[+] margorczynski|8 years ago|reply
Related to this - I've always wondered why Mozilla doesn't just build-in an ad-blocker directly into the browser. The speed/security bump is significant.

Probably because they want/need the deals with the search engine companies?

[+] zach43|8 years ago|reply
They already have a pretty decent tracking protection app built-into the browser, and if I remember correctly it can also be enabled outside private browsing mode I’m guessing that they are slowly moving towards implementing a full ad blocker in the browser
[+] porfirium|8 years ago|reply
They are so big on net neutrality and whatever, they can't do that.
[+] eric_khun|8 years ago|reply
I'm in Japan since 2 months now, and I see most of the people using in the metro/street using Yahoo than Google. Is Yahoo doing a better search in Japanese than Google? Or are they just better in marketing?

Also, seeing lot of people (also many over 30!) browsing Twitter. What surprised me, I rarely saw it in other countries I've been.

[+] agibsonccc|8 years ago|reply
Yahoo Japan was a JV between softbank and yahoo a long time ago. They kept the branding but they are largely not the same company. Yahoo Japan is actually itself a conglomerate made up of everything from data center to being a cheaper telco in addition to being a portal.
[+] skuhn|8 years ago|reply
As others have said, Yahoo Japan is a separate company (that shared technology with Yahoo US).

They also moved to Google search results after Yahoo gave up and started using Bing results around 2010, which probably helped them maintain market share (since the Yahoo search transition to Bing was a clusterfuck).

[+] TorKlingberg|8 years ago|reply
Japanese doesn't use spaces between words, and at least c:a 2008 Google didn't do a great job of separating out search terms.
[+] boyce|8 years ago|reply
Some of the biggest Mastodon instances are Japanese too, off the top of my head friends.nico seems large.
[+] nindalf|8 years ago|reply
Twitter is a more useful in Japan because they can express a lot more in 140 characters than people who use variants of the Latin/Cyrillic alphabet. You can actually communicate entire thoughts, rather than half-baked hot takes.
[+] agjmills|8 years ago|reply
Somewhat important to note that its only the default in the US, India and a few other countries - presumably not the EU because of the whole Internet Explorer setting Bing as the default debacle a couple of years ago
[+] tjoff|8 years ago|reply
Not sure what you meant, google is the default in at least northern EU. Yahoo has never had any presence here so we have never been burdened with it.
[+] jlgaddis|8 years ago|reply
> Somewhat important to note ...

Yep, important enough that they noted it twice in TFA, including in the first paragraph:

> "... at least if you live in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan."

[+] azernik|8 years ago|reply
"This move makes Google Mozilla’s default search engine in most of the world, with the exception of China, where the default is Baidu, and Russia, Turkey, Belarus and Kazakhstan, where Yandex is the default."

That is, the deal with Yahoo only applied in the US, India, Hong Kong, et al.

[+] throw2016|8 years ago|reply
You can't stand for privacy and promote Google at the same time. That's disingenuous and the 'explanations' are transparently self serving.

If Mozilla needs that money from Google then they should own up to it and get off the privacy bandwagon rather than trivialize it.

[+] gamla|8 years ago|reply
One thing Mozilla should consider is shifting to a non-commercial operational model entirely. Assume a Patreon-like campaign that attracts 500k patrons paying $10 / month each. That results in a $60M annual revenue, enough to sustain a meaningful company.

It's still only 10% of their current annual revenue (which is closer to half a billion USD), but I would argue that becoming completely independent from any commercial incentives might be worth this sacrifice.

[+] jldugger|8 years ago|reply
That is... a very ambitious assumption.
[+] Grollicus|8 years ago|reply
I do believe money means influence, so I think this will mean a whole slew of new bad decisions by Mozilla. Very worrysome. It's 73% of used browsers under the control of Google. Also the best alternative to Google Chrome under their control.
[+] k__|8 years ago|reply
I liked the idea of Mozilla not being paid by Google. Sad, but not surprising when looking at Yahoos "success" in the last years :/
[+] dep_b|8 years ago|reply
What happened with Bing? They weren't interested?
[+] tryingagainbro|8 years ago|reply
Headline: Mozilla terminate$ its deal with Yahoo...

if we had a functioning government a company with 70+% market share would not be able to buy even more market-share. Monopoly and all...