Yahoo in deal with Mozilla to replace Google as default search engine on Firefox

20 Nov 2014

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Yahoo Inc had reached a deal with Firefox maker Mozilla Corp for the replacement of Google Inc as the default search engine on the Firefox Web browser in the US, Reuters reported. According to Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, the deal would help boost its flagging search market share.
 
Starting in December, the deal was set to last five years, Yahoo said. Mayer did not disclose the financial terms other than saying that the partnership was a revenue sharing agreement and included certain "guarantees."
 
The partnership integrating Yahoo search into Firefox's browser for desktop PCs and mobile devices such as smart phones, would produce a "share gain" for Yahoo, Mayer told Reuters in an interview yesterday.
 
The Mozilla deal meant that users of the Firefox browser in the US would automatically be routed to search results on Yahoo's website when they typed a query into the small box that appeared at the top of the browser.

According to Mayer, it was one the largest independently-directed search share opportunities available in the market.

The share of Yahoo of the US search market on desktop PCs currently stood at around 10 per cent, as against Microsoft's roughly 20 per cent and Google's 67 per cent, according to industry research firm comScore.
 
The tensions between Google and Mozilla had been increasing since Google introduced the Chrome browser in 2008 that undercut Firefox. Google's current contract with Mozilla is set to expire at the end of this month, which gives an opening to Yahoo, AP reports.
 
Even though Chrome was now more widely used, Firefox still had a loyal audience that made over 100 billion worldwide search requests annually.
 
Yahoo was hoping to wow Firefox users as the Sunnyvale, California company sought to prove that it was still adept at internet search after leaning on Microsoft's technology for most of the results on Yahoo's own website for the past four years.

Financial details of Yahoo's Firefox contract were not disclosed. However, in a blog post, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard said the new deal offered "strong, improved economic terms" while allowing Mozilla "to innovate and advance our mission in ways that best serve our users and the Web."
 
In another change, Mozilla was also shifting Firefox to Baidu's search engine in China and Yandex in Russia. Firefox users still had the option to pull down a tab to pick Google and other search engines as their preferred way to look for information online.

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