Today, Mozilla has dumped Google for Yahoo as the default search engine one of the world’s most popular web browser Firefox. This new wave of change will first affect Firefox users in the United States at the beginning of December as part of a five-year agreement between the tech giants. According to Mozilla CEO Chris Beard, Firefox users search the web more than 100 billion times each year, suggesting a major windfall for Yahoo as a result of the deal.
By comparison, only 10 percent of web searches are made through Yahoo, which is powered by Microsoft Bing. But Google and Bing have both made major gains in recent years. Nonetheless, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said that
“At Yahoo, we believe deeply in search – it’s an area of investment, opportunity and growth for us. I can’t wait to see what innovations we build together.”
It’s now been ten years and Google has been Firefox’s default browser, so the new partnership represents a significant change. In a blog post, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard described the decision as a strategic one. He said
“Our agreement came up for renewal this year, and we took this as an opportunity to review our competitive strategy,” Beard wrote. “We believe it will empower more people, in more places with more choice and opportunity to innovate and ultimately put even more people in control over their lives online.”
If that not enough, Russians will have Yandex as the default search engine in in Mozilla, as a move for the company to work with more local partners. Worry not Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia will continue as alternative search in your country.
