With FireFox market share on the rise, up to nearly 20% as of 7/11/06, there is no doubt that they are putting pressure on Microsoft and their Internet Explorer. I would think that market share is much higher among us internet marketers and bloggers. With FireFox v3 ready for primetime, I can only imagine that market share will continue to rise. Since FireFox is “just a browser“… and a savior to so many web users, how much money are they actually making? The browser is free, updates are free, the killer add-on are free… so where is the money coming from to provide all of this? One word…. Google!

Every time you load up your FireFox browser, you are sent to a lovely customized Google home page. You also have the option to use the Google Search Box at the top right the browser. FireFox isn’t providing Google to all of their users because it is the search engine of choice! They are cashing in, and making millions! Think of it as Google Adsense on steroids!

Last October, the Mozilla Foundation released their 2006 financial statement. Once the report was released, it was clear that Google was the parent that gave Mozilla it’s life. This financial statement told everyone that Google provides 85% of the revenue for the Mozilla Corp. subsidiary. As reported by The Register, “The footnote lists “concentrations of risks”: “Mozilla has a contract with a search engine provider for royalties,” reads a footnote buried at the bottom of the statement. “Approximately 85 per cent of Mozilla’s revenue was derived from this contact.”. Of course, the search engine they speak of is Google.

So how much money does Mozilla actually make? In 2006, Mozilla reported revenues of $66,840,850. Compared to their 2005 earnings, that is an increase of 26 percent. The CEO of Mozilla says “As in 2005 the vast majority of this revenue is associated with the search functionality in Mozilla Firefox, and the majority of that is from Google“.

How awesome of a cash cow product is Mozilla’s FireFox? Are you still using Internet Explorer, or have you made the move over to FireFox? I hope this article gives you a new train of thought every time you open up your FireFox browser and use the search box or homepage… like all of their other millions of users, you’re making them rich!

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