Google paid $26.3 billion in 2021 to consolidate their search engine status

During court testimony, Prabhakar Raghavan, Google’s Senior Vice President in charge of search operations and digital assistant services, affirmed that in 2021, the company expended $26.3 billion to secure its position as the default search engine for numerous browsers, consequently boosting traffic.

Prabhakar Raghavan articulated that this strategic move led to Google amassing a staggering $146.4 billion in search ad revenue in 2021. However, he emphasized that the cost of the $26.3 billion outlay was considerably substantial.

Yet, Mr. Raghavan did not elucidate the specifics of the $26.3 billion expenditure, leaving it ambiguous as to how much of this amount was apportioned to Apple.

It’s been a long-standing practice for Google to invest heavily, ensuring its search engine remains the default choice for a plethora of browsers and services. This strategy has not only augmented its search traffic but has also escalated its ad exposure, culminating in impressive ad revenue. Court-presented data illustrates that Google’s ad revenue in 2014 stood at $47 billion, with external payouts amounting to $7.1 billion. Comparatively, by 2021, the ad revenue had magnified approximately threefold, while the expenditure had almost quadrupled.

In related news, aside from revelations that Microsoft once contemplated selling its Bing Search service to Apple to become the default search service for iOS devices, court documents have also unveiled that Google had previously offered an annual fee nearing $10 billion to ensure Google Search remained the default search engine for both Apple and Samsung devices.