Google’s search engine dominance can seem invincible, but that doesn’t mean the search giant isn’t willing to pay billions to ensure it stays that way.
Google will reportedly pay Apple $9 billion in 2018 and $12 billion in 2019 to remain as Safari’s default search engine, according to Business Insider. The report comes courtesy of Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall. It seems like a hefty price to pay, but with Safari being the default browser on iPhone, iPads, and Macs—and Google continuing to generate a great deal of revenue from its original search engine business—the Goldman Sachs report finds the payments to be a fraction of the money it ends up making.
“We believe Apple is one of the biggest channels of traffic acquisition for Google,” the report said, according to Business Insider.
Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi additionally revealed in 2017 that Google previously paid Apple an estimated $3 billion. However, the only real number available is from 2014, due to court filings, which revealed Google paid Apple $1 billion for its search engine spot. Considering $9 and $12 billion are big jumps in four and five years, respectively, and that Google and Apple won’t actually disclose the figure, it’s unclear how accurate the Goldman Sachs estimate really is.