The revelation, made during the US government 's antitrust trial against Google, marks the first time the company has revealed how much it pays to ensure its search service is at the top of users' minds when they conduct searches.
Photo: DPA
The exclusivity deals are at the heart of a lawsuit by the US Justice Department , which alleges Google unfairly crushed rivals and maintained a monopoly in the internet search market.
Google argues that the payments do not eliminate competitors, as most internet users still choose “Google Search” even if they do not pay for the default setting.
Justice Department lawyers said at the start of the trial last month that Google was spending more than $10 billion a year on default agreements, but most observers expect the figure to be much higher.
Wall Street analysts estimate Google's payments to Apple alone are between $16 billion and $20 billion a year, to help make “Google Search” the first service users see on the iPhone maker's Safari browser.
Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s head of search and ads, revealed the figure in court on Friday, calling it the company’s biggest expense. He said default payments have more than tripled since 2014.
Default payments were the biggest part of the total $45.6 billion in traffic acquisition costs that Google paid to various companies in 2021. Meanwhile, Google generated $146.4 billion in search advertising revenue last year.
The trial against Google, which began last month, is the US government's biggest antitrust fight with Big Tech since its case against Microsoft in the 1990s.
Hoang Hai (according to FT, Bloomberg)
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