The news that Google spent $26.3 billion to monopolize its search engine was announced on October 27 in an antitrust trial against Google in a US federal court, in which much evidence was presented by the Department of Justice and a series of state attorneys general.
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| Google spends tens of billions of dollars to become the default search engine on smartphones and web browsers. |
No single company is paid by Google, but Apple is likely to receive the lion's share. Research firm Bernstein estimates that Google may be paying Apple around $19 billion a year to be the default search engine on Apple products.
According to the Justice Department’s lawsuit, Google has paid billions of dollars each year to distributors — including major device makers like Apple, Motorola, LG, Samsung; carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon; and browser developers Mozilla, Opera, UCWeb — to secure its position. In many cases, that prevents those partners from doing business with Google’s competitors.
For its part, Google says users can switch their default search engine with just a few clicks.
According to court documents, Google's search division generated more than $146 billion in revenue in 2021, while its traffic acquisition costs totaled more than $26 billion. Since 2014, Google's search engine has generated $47 billion in revenue and spent about $7.1 billion on default placement. That means the division's revenue has tripled between 2014 and 2021, while its partner costs have nearly quadrupled.
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