According to a senior executive at Alphabet’s Google, the company paid a staggering $26.3 billion to other firms in 2021 to secure its search engine as the default choice on web browsers and mobile devices. This testimony was given during the Justice Department’s antitrust trial, as reported by Bloomberg News on Friday.
The disclosed figures indicate a significant increase in the payments Google made for default status, surpassing more than threefold the amount recorded in 2014. The revelation comes from Prabhakar Raghavan, a top company executive with responsibilities encompassing both search and advertising.
In 2021, Google reported a substantial $146.4 billion in revenue from search advertising, with the cost of securing default settings being its most significant expenditure, as indicated in the Bloomberg report featuring Mr. Raghavan.
Google has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The company has consistently maintained that its revenue-sharing agreements are lawful and that it has made substantial investments to maintain competitiveness in its search and advertising divisions.
Furthermore, Google has argued that if users are dissatisfied with default settings, they have the freedom to switch to an alternative search provider, and many indeed exercise this option.
Google had raised objections to the disclosure of these figures, contending that such revelation would potentially undermine the company’s capacity to engage in future contract negotiations. However, Judge Amit Mehta, presiding over the case, determined that the numbers should be made public, as detailed in the report.
26 billion dollars Bruh, it feels weird knowing there are corporates out there richer than the country we are living in.