This revelation came during the US government 's antitrust trial against Google, marking the first time the company has disclosed the amount it paid to ensure its search service achieved top rankings before users conducted searches.
Photo: DPA
Exclusive agreements are at the heart of the U.S. Department of Justice 's lawsuit, which alleges that Google unfairly beat competitors and maintained a monopoly in the internet search market.
Google argues that these payments do not eliminate competition, as most internet users still choose "Google Search" even if they don't pay for it to be the default.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice said at the start of the trial last month that Google had spent more than $10 billion annually on default agreements, but most observers predicted the figure would be much higher.
Wall Street analysts estimate Google's payment to Apple alone is between $16 billion and $20 billion annually, to help make "Google Search" the first service users see on the iPhone maker's Safari browser.
Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Google's search and advertising division, revealed the figure in court on Friday, calling it the company's largest expense. He said default payments have more than tripled since 2014.
Default payments represent the largest portion of the total $45.6 billion in traffic acquisition costs that Google paid to various companies in 2021. Meanwhile, Google generated $146.4 billion in search advertising revenue last year.
The trial against Google, which began last month, is the biggest antitrust battle the U.S. government has waged against a Big Tech company since the lawsuit against Microsoft in the 1990s.
Hoang Hai (according to FT, Bloomberg)
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