A University of Chicago professor on Monday disclosed that Google pays Apple 36% of revenue it earns from search advertising made through the Safari browser.
The insight was revealed during
testimony from professor Kevin Murphy in Google’s defense at the Justice Department’s antitrust trial in Washington, reports Bloomberg.
Murphy revealed the number, which was
intended to remain confidential, and Google’s main litigator John Schmidtlein visibly cringed, according to Bloomberg.
Google argued in a redacted court filing last week that revealing additional
information about the deal “would unreasonably undermine Google’s competitive standing in relation to both competitors and other counterparties.”
Neither company wanted to
release that number. Both companies thought that the “specific deal terms” should be kept private because if they had been disclosed, they could create a “competitive disadvantage
for Google and any future negotiations with potential partners.”
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The document states that after Apple’s counsel objected in writing to the unauthorized disclosure, the Justice
Department replied “that Plaintiffs may reveal high-level descriptions of [the] agreements” and “have not revealed the specific language of the agreement.”
Google and
Apple have partnered since 2002, but this deal between the two companies is the most important because it sets the search engine for the iPhone, the most used smartphone in the U.S.
The
Justice Department trail against Google, alleging the company has maintained its dominance in the market through strong-arm dealings, has revealed many things about Google such as the top 20 searches
by revenue for the week of September 22, 2018.
In another heavily redacted piece of
evidence for the trial, a document explains the life of a click. In Google language, clicks stand for user interaction
— queries, search, interaction. The three pillars of ranking include body, what the document says about itself; anchors, what the web says about the document; and user interactions, what the
user says about the document.