We all know about the incredibly bizarre finances of Mozilla -- the Billion dollar corporation behind the Firefox web browser.
Huge dollar payments to companies that don't seem to exist. Massive amounts of money funneled into political projects. A nearly total reliance on a single customer (Google) for the majority of their revenue. Huge (and unusual) bonuses given to their CEO. Sketchy to the extreme.
And all of that is built upon a web browser (Firefox) that has a total marketshare of around 3%... and dropping.
Which begs the question:
If you have one product (Firefox) that is responsible for the majority of your revenue, and that product has a declining marketshare with only one paying customer (effectively), how do you ensure profitability going forward?
Realistically, you have two options:
- Take that one product (Firefox) and do what is necessary to increase the marketshare and ensure long-term profitability of it.
- Pivot your company to entirely new products that have nothing to do with your old product.
It appears that Mozilla has chosen option number 2.
In an article from Mozilla President, Mark Surman, the plan for the future of Mozilla was laid out. Plain as day. And that plan does not include the Firefox web browser.
That article, "Looking ahead at Mozilla’s next quarter century", called out four specific initiatives that Mozilla is investing in as key bets for the future of their company:
- Secure AI Labs (A.I.)
- Open Source Audit Tooling (A.I.)
- Lelapa A.I. (A.I.)
- Data Nutrition Project (A.I.)
What do all four of those projects and companies have in common? You guessed it: Artificial Intelligence.
As the Mozilla President put it:
"They are creating a wave of ideas and tech that could push the internet — including AI — in a dramatically different direction.
If we want to push things in a different direction in this next era, we need more than one or two new products like Firefox — we need a wave."
Note the repeated use of the phrase "different direction". That's not an accident. Guaranteed those words were carefully vetted by several executives and their press team. Mozilla is making things pretty clear here.
It should also be noted that Firefox itself does not appear even once in the "next 25 years" roadmap for Mozilla -- other than to discuss how they need new products (read: not Firefox) that are successful for Mozilla. Like Firefox once was.
Mozilla isn't standing still on this pivot away from Firefox and towards A.I. -- they're taking action and putting money towards this goal. Earlier this year, they launched a new company they call "Mozilla.ai"... with an initial investment of $30 Million. And that is in addition to their other investments in the A.I. field.
Let that all sink in for a moment.
- The President of Mozilla lays out a future roadmap that does not include Firefox.
- The entire future roadmap of Mozilla is centered on Artificial Intelligence.
Is Mozilla's plan to pivot from a "Web Browser Builder" to an "Artificial Intelligence company" a good idea?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But, regardless, that is the clear direction that Mozilla has chosen. They want their future to be all about Artificial Intelligence... they're just about done with Firefox.
Don't believe it? Does the idea of Mozilla dropping (or, at least, sidelining) Firefox seem too outlandish?
When someone tells you their plan, and then spends millions to act on that plan, it's usually a good idea to believe them.
