• WebproNews, Friday, August 29, 2008 1:45 PM

Google and Mozilla have added another three years to their search partnership, meaning Google will still be the default search engine for Mozilla's Firefox browser, and Mozilla will continue to earn a significant portion of its overall revenue from the deal.

Doug Caverly digs up the most recent figures that illustrate just how important Google's search revenue is for Mozilla's bottom line. In 2006, "Mozilla received about $56.8 million--or 85 percent of its revenue--thanks to the deal," he says. Numbers like that are what enable Mozilla to keep developing products like the Firefox browser, which has gained favor with nearly 20% of all Internet users in the U.S., according to some reports.

And while the deal extension gives Mozilla bit of breathing room to either launch its own revenue-generating product (as Firefox is free) or find another well-paying partner, it will likely serve as more fodder for critics who feel that the company's ties to Google are already too binding.

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