The agreement under scrutiny during the hearing in the United States: 36% of the advertising revenues generated by Google through Safari would be allocated to Apple.
In relation to the agreement between Apple and Google, information has been leaked which states that the former holds 36% of the advertising revenues generated through searches carried out on Safari through the popular engine.
The revelation of this percentage, long kept confidential by the parties involved, adds further details to the already sizable payments the company gives to Apple for being the default search engine on Safariamounting to several tens of billions of dollars.
This figure was brought to light during the testimony of Professor Kevin Murphy, an economics expert at the University of Chicago, during the ongoing trial at the Department of Justice in Washington, as reported by Bloomberg.
All beneficiaries
The news about this percentage further highlighted the relationship between two of the world’s largest technology companies, both of which have been under scrutiny for possible violations of antitrust laws in recent years.
The Department of Justice accused Google of using its considerable economic resources to maintain control of the market by entering into financial agreements with companies such as Apple to ensure that Safari is the primary search engine for the millions of users who use iPhone, iPad and Mac.
In 2021, Google would pay Apple around $18 billion to maintain its search-first status, as reported by the New York Times.
Understanding this agreement between Apple and Google is crucial to evaluating Google’s position.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that the deal between Apple and Google made it impossible for other search engines to competelike Bing.
Microsoft had previously offered Tim Cook the purchase of Bing, but the Cupertino company had declined the offer out of concern that the engine could not compete with Google in terms of “quality and capacity”.
Furthermore, there was evidently a desire to maintain the profits resulting from the agreement that has lasted since 2002.
Competitors penalized
As Bloomberg reported last week, both Google and Apple opposed public disclosure of the details of their agreement.
Google said as part of a legal filing that doing so would unjustifiably harm its competitive position relative to competitors and other partners.
It’s not known exactly how much money Google makes from Safari advertising, but 36% of the figure is likely to be several billion dollars.
According to some estimates, the amount would be between 18 and 20 billion per year, corresponding to approximately 15% of Apple’s operating profits.
In 2022, Google earned a total of $279.8 billion, mostly from advertising.
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