The DOJ v. Google case — which found that Google has been violating antitrust laws related to its monopoly position in the Search Engine market — is weeks away from ending the remedy phase. Judge Mehta is expected to issue his final decision some time in August (next month).
Significantly for Mozilla, one of the most heavily pushed (by the DOJ) remedies would block Google from paying Mozilla for default search engine placement within Firefox. This would, effectively, end over 80% of Mozilla’s yearly revenue… and force the company to dramatically downsize.
During the court trial earlier this year, the Mozilla CFO testified that, should this happen, Mozilla “may be forced to scale back operations”.
At the same time as the DOJ v. Google case is moving quickly towards a conclusion, the US government has pulled Mozilla funding — resulting in renewed, desperate pleas from Mozilla, asking for donations to attempt to cover the lost tax payer revenue.
Mozilla appears to have a four pronged approach to securing funding and staying in business:
Fight the DOJ v. Google case (both in court and public opinion).
Rebrand (and re-focus) on political activism in the hopes of securing new funding sources. (They are now a “global crew of activists” focused on Marxist causes.)
Monetize data collected from Firefox users. (See: Firefox recently changing their Terms of Use to allow Mozilla to collect user data.)
Encouraging users to donate.
Many questions remain in this saga:
Will Judge Mehta tell Google to stop payments for Search Engine placement? We’ll find out very soon.
Will Google appeal after the remedies are handed down? (Most likely.)
If so, what will the outcome of that appeal be? And how will default Search Engine payments be impacted during the appeal?
Will Mozilla see enough success in their new business of being a “global crew of activists” to avoid significant layoffs?
According to multiple sources within Mozilla — who have spoken to The Lunduke Journal on the condition of anonymity — employees have deep concerns about the future of the company, the leadership currently in power, and the stability of their jobs through the end of this year.
Now, Mozilla has several hundred million dollars in cash on hand. Which means, even if they experience the loss of 80%+ of their revenue… they have enough runway to keep them afloat at least for a little while. But burning through savings to keep a company afloat is not a great long term strategy.
What will Mozilla look like this time next year?
Heck… what will Mozilla look like this time next month?
It’s going to be interesting to watch as this unfolds.
