Mozilla is closing in on a major milestone, set to pass $500 million in 2021 revenue as the company’s other services gain ground.
Mozilla has always been in a unique and precarious position. The organization is responsible for one of the most important pieces of software, in its Firefox web browser. Although Chrome has long-since come to dominate the browser market, Firefox consistently wins praise for its focus on user privacy, unlike Chrome. In fact, Mozilla has established itself as a stalwart defender of user privacy, and is on the forefront of such efforts.
Despite its importance, and what the company stands for, Mozilla’s primary financial support has come from search deals with Google, to the tune of nearly 90% of the company’s revenue. Relying on its greatest competitor, one whose values are almost diametrically opposed to Mozilla’s, is a dangerous position to depend on.
According to TechCrunch, the status quo is finally starting to change. While Mozilla reported $466 million in search revenue in 2020, and $465 million in 2019, the organization is set to pass $500 million in 2021.
Most significantly, however, an increasing share of Mozilla’s revenue is coming from its other services, such as Mozilla VPN, Pocket and Firefox Relay Premium. In fact, revenue from these other services is expected to grow 150% in 2020, accounting for 14% of Mozilla’s total revenue. According to TechCrunch, Mozilla’s VPN service alone saw a 450% revenue growth from 2020 to 2021.
While 14% is still a relatively small portion of Mozilla’s total revenue, it’s an excellent start toward finally breaking free of dependence on Google.