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Google pays Apple a third of Safari search revenue, CEO admits

By Nithya Bose in Apple News, posted November 15, 2023

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has confirmed Google pays Apple 36 percent of Safari search revenue for making it the default search engine.

Mr Pichai made the revelation while testifying in a separate lawsuit against Google by Epic Games.

This detail is crucial to the Justice Department's antitrust claims.

The claim was made by an expert witness in a Google antitrust trial being held in Washington D.C, and was backed up by Pichai in a separate trial against Epic Games.

Epic's attorney claimed Google pays Samsung, Android's major hardware partner, less than half of what it pays Apple.

Pichai said he didn't know for certain, but conceded this was possible.

Pichai said the Samsung deal was “like apples and oranges” and said the deal sometimes pays carriers.

He later said under questioning that his company competes “fiercely with Apple.”

Google spent around $49 billion in Traffic Acquisition Costs in 2022.

These costs include all of its payments to companies like Apple and Samsung to make it the top search engine.

Pichai, pressed on the dollar amount paid to Apple, initially stated it was over $10 billion, but the attorney contested the figure as $18 billion.

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"We do business in bright light and open doors”

The breakdown of Google's revenue-sharing agreement with Apple had not been disclosed until this court disclosure from a witness testifying on Google's behalf.

During the trial session, Judge James Donato rebuffed requests from Google and Apple to conceal figures.

Donato told the lawyers: “It doesn’t seem to be sinking in.

“This is a courtroom in the United States — we do business in bright light and open doors.”

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He added: “Just coming in and saying, ‘We’re kind of sensitive about this,’ isn’t going to fly.”

Alphabet is the midst of multiple legal battles.

The company faces two DOJ suits and a lawsuit from Epic Games alleging an illegal monopoly with the Google Play store.

While Google and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Pichai's testimony, Apple remained silent.

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