Mozilla's revenue in 2017 increased by 8% compared to the previous year, but costs increased more than twice, by 17% in the same period.
Most revenue of $ 562 million for the Mozilla Foundation comes from paying a license, since it is the largest part of the one that produced it from various actions hit by the default search engine in Firefox. Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that occupies Mozilla Corp., a commercial organization that creates and serves Firefox for Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS and Android.
According to Mozilla's financial statement released on Tuesday, $ 539 million, or about 96% of total revenue, originated from a license payment. The percentage of royalties was never below 91% – Mozilla fortune has always been linked to Firefox search contracts – but in 2017 it was slightly lower than 2016.
In 2017, these search contracts accounted for 93% of the fee income, said Mozilla, who said the agreements brought about $ 501.4 million. That was about 27 million dollars more than in 2016, a relatively small increase of 6%. (For example, the arrival of a contract of demand has increased by 15%).
A modest increase in the earnings of the search contract was significant, as it showed that Mozilla's last switch of providers did not materially increase revenue.
A year ago, Mozilla dropped Yahoo as Firefox for the US, Canada and several other countries. The company was then rebuilt with Google, which was its search engine and the largest source of revenue, for years until the organization left with Yahoo in 2014.
Last year was the first full year of the latest contact with Google. Both Mozilla and Google did not disclose the financial terms of the contracts that took place in 2016, but by 2017, the revenue report was not much more than a replacement for Yahoo's launch.
There was no indication in the financial information of Mozilla about 2017 that the organization continued to receive payments from Yahoo after it went to Google. It was no surprise: The two sued each other at the California Supreme Court at the end of last year for a contract.
Yahoo-Mozilla Agreement had an unusual clause that gave Mozilla the right to skip if Yahoo was sold. Under the agreement, Mozilla should have been paid for the full length of the contract – even if it was the one who completed the agreement before the end of 2019 or the alternating difference between Yahoo's annual $ 375 million and whatever Mozilla got from a new partner.
Verizon bought Yahoo for $ 4.5 billion in mid-2017, and then cut it down on US Online to create a new company, Oath.
In the meantime, costs are rising faster than revenue
While Mozilla's revenue grew by 8%, costs rose to 17%, which was more than double.
Most of Mozilla's costs – 60%, for three percentage points from the previous year – were for software development, which increased by $ 253 million, an increase of 12% and a double increase in 2016. However, the biggest increase in cost side, however, was a 39% gain on the branding and marketing line, which fell from $ 47 million (2016) to $ 66 million (2017).
It is not surprising that the difference between revenue and costs decreased in 2017, as this one grew faster than the first one. Mozilla's "profit" – "net cash provided by operational activities" in the financial report – fell from $ 108 million last year to $ 101 million in 2017, a decline of 6%.
Even so, Mozilla appeared on a solid financial basis. Its rainy day – the total amount in cash, cash equivalents and investments – rose to $ 464 million, to $ 65 million from 2016, up 16% from the same period last year. This savings could serve Mozilla as a cost increase for 2017, just over 13 months, even if all revenues are evaporated.
What Mozilla does not say
For all inclusiveness, the title of a long blog post that followed the release of financial statements – "Country Mozilla 2017" – the organization released key information, especially as Firefox set it against the rival.
Firefox's share of the desktop browser market, the only area in which it competes, has fallen this year. Although Firefox share of users, the Net Appliance analyst appraisal appraisal rate fell by only 1.2 percentage points in 2017, ending the year with 11%, 2018. Since January, Firefox has lost 1.8 percentage points and ended up in October at 9 , 3%. Except if Mozilla does not catch the downward trend, Firefox could count for just over 5% of all browsers around the world this time next year.
Sharing is important for all browsers as revenue generating applications are for their manufacturers in one way or another. Mozilla's interest is particularly sharp because other big browser developers – Google, Microsoft and Apple – have a lot of revenue. Firefox, however, almost exclusively relies on search contracts, and these jobs depend on whether the search engine can bring users to the search page. Minus a significant number of users, providers will have no reason to pay for Mozilla by default in Firefox.
IDG / Gregg KeizerMozilla's contract revenue rose to $ 501 million in 2017, an increase of 6%. Profits for the previous two years were 7x and 2x last year.
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