Google paid $26 billion to be default search engine, US court told

The court is also expected to hear from Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday (Oct 30)

Alphabet's Google reportedly paid $26.3 billion in 2021 to become the default search engine for mobile devices and web browsers, US media reports have said. This figure was released on October 27 in the midst of an anti-trust dispute over Google's control of search and advertising.

The reports provide a detailed overview of the payments Google made to partners such as Apple to maintain its monopoly in general search. The dominance has been used to exclude competitors from key distribution channels including Apple's Safari web browser, reports said.

Senior executive officer Prabhakar Raghavan, who was a witness during the United States Justice Department's antitrust trial and is in charge of Google's search and advertising, said payments for the default status had gone up more than threefold since 2014.

CNBC, citing a report from Bernstein, said Google could potentially pay Apple a substantial sum of $19 billion to become the default search provider on Apple devices this year.

Google has previously defended its revenue-share agreements as legal, claiming it had invested to remain competitive in search and advertising. But, according to a Bloomberg report, the judge in the case requested Google to provide the figures, which the company previously denied, citing it would impede its ability to enter into future contracts.

Google also defended its decision to provide default search options, claiming that users had the option to switch if they were not satisfied.

CNBC reported that the slide presented on October 27, titled "Google Search + Margins," showed that the division's 2021 revenue was more than $146 billion, with traffic acquisition costs amounting to over $26 billion.

The US government has said Google illegally paid an estimated $10 billion every year to smartphone makers like Apple and wireless carriers like AT&T and others to be the default search engine on their devices in order to stay on top.

The court is also expected to hear from Google CEO Sundar Pichai on October 30.

(With inputs from agencies)