At Google’s trial, information supposed to remain confidential was revealed by Kevin Murphy, the Mountain View firm’s main economic expert. The disclosure of this industrial secret risks putting it in great embarrassment…
The US Department of Justice alleges that Google spent billions of dollars with smartphone and browser makers to make Google Search the default search engine on their respective services or devices.
Very quickly, the case focused on a specific agreement between Google and Apple, in place since 2002 and which, according to the authorities and the competition, prevents any competition with the search giant. The information that has just leaked on this subject should not help things for Google…
“ The biggest mistake of the trial »
During his testimony, Kevin Murphy revealed that Google pays Apple 36% of its revenue from advertising on searches carried out with the Safari browser. John Schmidtlein, the company’s top lawyer, visibly flinched when that figure was revealed. The two main parties absolutely did not want additional details about their agreement to be discussed. “ This is probably the biggest mistake of the entire trial “, commented Big Tech on Trialan account dedicated to the case, on X.com.
In a motion filed last week, Google said disclosing additional information about the deal “ would unreasonably harm Google’s competitive position relative to its competitors and other counterparties “. The web giant’s advertising revenues amount to several billion dollars annually, and the percentage received by Apple is in addition to the 18 billion dollars it benefits from as part of the agreement (figure dating from 2021). The Cupertino company would have even abandoned the idea of creating its own search engine, as this partnership is so lucrative for it, one of its executives declared during the trial.
Since the start of the trial, Google has maintained that these various agreements allow it to stay the course in a highly competitive market. The company also attests that users choose Search for the quality of service compared to its rivals.
From revelation to revelation
Apple is not the only manufacturer to have an agreement with Google. This is also the case for Samsung, which was even threatened with heavy sanctions from the Mountain View firm when it wanted to make it easier to change the search engine on its devices.
During his testimony, the big boss of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, argued that platforms competing with Search had almost no chance of establishing themselves if no legal changes took place.
Sources: Bloomberg, Ars Technica
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