Google paid $26 billion in 2021 to be the default search engine
CEO of the company Google revealed these figures during an antitrust trial against the search giant by the US Department of Justice.
Vice President Prabhakar Raghavan testified Friday that Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 to maintain default search engine status and increase traffic, reports Bloomberg. Probably most of that amount is gone Apple– to which he has been paying enormous sums for years to remain the default search option on iPhone-u, iPad-u i Mac-u.
Raghavan, who testified as part of the Justice Department's ongoing antitrust lawsuit against the company, said Google's search advertising revenue was $146.4 billion in 2021, which puts into perspective the $26 billion they paid for default browser status. The executive director clarified that the status is default browser was the most expensive part of the costs for increasing traffic.
ShutterstockRaghavan didn't say how much of that $26.3 billion went to Apple, but CNBC reports that a Bernstein estimate estimated that it would Google could pay Apple up to $19 billion this year for the privilege of default browser status.
Google expenses quadrupled and revenue doubled
In a slide shown in court, it was revealed that Google generated $47 billion in search revenue in 2014, while paying $7.1 billion to be the default search engine. Raghavan testified that the total costs Google paid for this status almost quadrupled from 2014 to 2021, while advertising revenue through search almost doubled.
Google has opposed releasing these figures, arguing that it could damage its ability to negotiate future contracts. Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing the case, disagreed.