Apple Inc. and Google have been entangled in a fascinating partnership for quite some time now in which the search engine giant pays its technology rival a hefty sum to be the default search engine provider in Apple’s Safari browser.
In the early days of Apple and Google’s relationship back in the early 2000s, there was little information regarding the exact amount of money being exchanged between the two giants. However, a recently leaked testimony from a Google executive has revealed just how much the internet giant is paying Apple for this privilege.
According to the testimony, Google pays Apple a staggering $&8 billion each year for the right to be the default search engine provider in Safari. To put this into perspective, this amount would easily cover Apple’s annual research and development costs by itself.
It is worth noting that these payments do not appear to be exclusive to Apple as Google is willing to pay other companies. Indeed, veteran tech executive Pandu Nayak recently suggested that the search engine giant may pay other tech companies up to $4 billion in order to remain as their default search provider.
What’s clear now is that this partnership has proven to be a lucrative one for both Apple and Google as it allows them to use each other’s core strengths for their mutual benefit. While Google gets to provide search data to Apple’s users, Apple is able to generate additional revenues from its biggest competitor.
As such, it is likely that both companies will continue to extend this partnership and utilize it for their mutual benefit in the years to come.