FireFox is the biggest GooGle whore making $66 Million a Year! Will Google Buy it?

mubin · #1 Oct 25th 2007, 5:51 am

I recently checked the financial returns of firefox, apparently they are making $66 million this year, which is a jump from $52 million last year.

85% of its income comes from the contract with Google.

The contract is up for renewal in November 2008.

Will google try to buy out firefox like it has bought feedburner for 100 million?

Randy brown dropped a comment saying that if google buys out firefox we can kiss our referral income goodbye but do you think it would be more money for us or less with Google buying Firefox?

Check out the post here:

Click here to read about the Biggest Google Whore: FireFox

Dont forget to stumble.

jacobkell · #2 Oct 25th 2007, 5:52 am

Buy firefox??You cant buy open source howmuch i know since firefox is under gpl licence.Atleast i think it's under gpl licence.

ForgottenCreature · #3 Oct 25th 2007, 5:54 am

Well - they might. I wouldn't be surprised.

mubin · #4 Oct 25th 2007, 5:59 am

They could buy out the mozilla foundation...

davewashere · #5 Oct 25th 2007, 5:59 am

Couldn't Google still buy it and keep it under GPL? I think you can buy open source, you just can't buy it and turn it into closed source. It's not like FF makes its money by charging people for the browser. Google's interest in buying it would be keeping the ad revenue for itself, and that ad revenue does not violate the GPL.

Remotay · #6 Oct 25th 2007, 6:00 am

ISn't FF Open source?...

Divisive Cottonwood · #7 Oct 25th 2007, 6:25 am

The code is certainly open source - nobody can buy the code.

And the Mozilla Foundation is not-for-profit so that can't be bought either.

mubin · #8 Oct 25th 2007, 6:57 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divisive Cottonwood

The code is certainly open source - nobody can buy the code.

And the Mozilla Foundation is not-for-profit so that can't be bought either.

so what are they doing with that $66 Million Profit.

Dempsey · #9 Oct 25th 2007, 8:21 am

There are two things:

The Mozilla Foundation
non-profit organization which controls firefox etc

The Mozilla Corporation
wholly owned taxable subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, which can make money

mubin · #10 Oct 25th 2007, 8:54 am

So they would invest in or try to take out the Mozilla Corporation. They could do it... Its GooGle not Microsoft at the end of the day.

mjesales · #11 Oct 25th 2007, 10:02 am

They could buy it - but I doubt they would. They seem to have a nice partnership going on now.

satangod · #12 Oct 25th 2007, 11:24 am

Why dont google make their own browser
It would be instant hit

LevaCygnet · #13 Oct 25th 2007, 12:07 pm

They're definitely protecting the browser in the search results. Look what happens when you search for "firefox.org" -- firefox.org is MY site, it's not a mozilla site, but you get the Mozilla sites first. Shouldn't "firefox.org" be the first result in a search for the domain "firefox.org" and not "Mozilla.com?"

Apparently I have a slight penalty there ... (I don't really mind; most of my traffic comes from other sources of traffic anyway. Mozilla's a great virtual neighbor and I wish them all the success in the world. But it's a curious result.)

mubin · #14 Oct 25th 2007, 4:42 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by satangod

Why dont google make their own browser
It would be instant hit

Because they can afford to buy out an already successful brand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjesales

They could buy it - but I doubt they would. They seem to have a nice partnership going on now.

As they did with youtube... remember how that turned out?

Turbo-Productions · #15 Oct 25th 2007, 4:49 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dempsey

There are two things:

The Mozilla Foundation
non-profit organization which controls firefox etc

The Mozilla Corporation
wholly owned taxable subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, which can make money

hehe I think my school does this as well.. clever girl...

**wisdomtool** · #16 Oct 25th 2007, 4:50 pm

I think Google will buy out FF, it fits into the product range, Google has an extensively impressive arsenal but it still lacks a Browser!

GoodPoints · #17 Oct 25th 2007, 5:18 pm

Any online profitable or heavily visited sites are targets of acquisition.

monosodium · #18 Oct 26th 2007, 2:18 am

where exactly does ff display those ads which rake in $66 million?

quite · #19 Oct 26th 2007, 2:28 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by monosodium

where exactly does ff display those ads which rake in $66 million?

its when you search using the built in search box or firefox homepage, ff takes a cut dont they?

monosodium · #20 Oct 26th 2007, 2:57 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by quite

its when you search using the built in search box or firefox homepage, ff takes a cut dont they?

about a buck per user, i guess that makes sense.

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