Over the last few years Mozilla FireFox got most of it's money (85% according to their financial reports) from Google for making it the default search engine for a number of years. The contract was originally due to end in 2006 but it was extended until November 2008 and then again until November 2011.

Now here's the problem. The last time the contract was renewed Google Chrome browser didn't really exist but now Google Chrome is bigger than FireFox in users according to statcounter.

The contract just ran out and their has being zero news about the contract being renewed. I can't find any information anywhere that suggests it was renewed which is unusual as press releases for deals such as this are common.

We can safely presume it was renewed as it's still good for both companies and Google doesn't really want Bing becoming the default browser. However one has to assume that if it was renewed it must be for a lot less money due to it not being announced added to the fall of FireFox and the new dominance and growth of Google Chromes market share. Why would Google pump millions into FireFox when it's a competitor?

If FireFox are currently having trouble losing users to Google Chrome and being forced to release updates more frequently to keep up the fight then competing with a severely reduced budget will be a much bigger challenge and could potentially bring the downfall of FireFox even faster.



UPDATE 20th December 2011
Today Mozilla announced that they did a new three year deal with Google but they haven't disclosed the details. It was to be expected that a new deal would be done as it's still beneficial for both companies but I'd be interested to see for how much it was as FireFox isn't as big as it used to be so it would be hard for them to demand such a high price. Suppose we can find out in their end of year financial statement what that comes out.
Mr Happy Reviewed by Mr Happy on . Is FireFox running out of money? http://i.imgur.com/ouv7P.png Over the last few years Mozilla FireFox got most of it's money (85% according to their financial reports) from Google for making it the default search engine for a number of years. The contract was originally due to end in 2006 but it was extended until November 2008 and then again until November 2011. Now here's the problem. The last time the contract was renewed Google Chrome browser didn't really exist but now Google Chrome is bigger than FireFox in users Rating: 5