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| Mozilla is extending Firefox's search agreement with Google |
Mozilla and Google extended their existing Firefox research contract by three years to allay financial concerns for Firefox manufacturers.
This new search transaction guarantees that Google will remain Firefox's default search provider until 2023, with an estimated price of between $ 400 million and $ 450 million annually.
Mozilla employees are expected to announce the extension of Firefox's search technology this fall, as the organization will release its 2019 financial statements in November.
After Mozilla announced plans to lay off more than 250 employees, the terms of the new contract were announced, causing many users to worry about the browser maker’s future.
The ongoing Firefox search transaction, signed between Google and Mozilla in 2017, will expire later this year.
However, some sources asserted that the organization is financially sound and the layoffs are part of its basic business restructuring.
Mozilla has moved from its current role in overseeing Internet standards and product testing methods to market to more commercially viable products that can generate income on their own.
Mozilla's long-term plan is to create its own source of revenue for subscription services and reduce reliance on Google search transactions.
Since the two companies began working together in 2006, Google search transactions have historically represented 75% to 95% of the company's total annual budget.
The layoffs reflect the plan in which Mozilla shut down the threat management security team, the developers who use the Beta Servo browser engine, the developers responsible for the Mozilla developer network, and the team behind the Firefox developer tools.
According to sources, layoffs are being curtailed in areas whose priorities the organization does not want to prioritize.
The organization has temporarily scaled back its work on open standards and protocols, but there are no plans to stop working in the web development community.
Subscription services ensure long-term profitability for the business. There are currently plans to support and expand new VPN services as well as acquire new technology ventures that can be seamlessly integrated into the product portfolio as standalone cash flows to generate revenue.
A Mozilla spokesperson said: The search partnership between Mozilla and Google is continuing and Google still remains the default Firefox search provider in many places around the world. The partnership has expanded recently, and our relationship has not changed.