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Care to explain how would they get the money in the process you described? Selling privacy to Google or someone is the only money maker they have.

There is no reason to believe manager pay is even 10% of the total expense.





Google (currently) pays Mozilla $400-500 million a year to be the default search engine in firefox.

edit: in 2023 they took in $653M in total, $555M of which was from Google. They spent $260M on software development, and $236M on other things.


The "other things" is what most people seem to have problem with.

Mozilla burns a batshit amount of money on feel good fancies.

If it were focused on its core mission -- building great software in key areas -- it would see it can't afford this, because that's the same money that if saved would make them financially independent of Google.


> Mozilla burns a batshit amount of money on feel good fancies.

How much?


  > In 2018, Baker received $2,458,350 in compensation from Mozilla.
  > In 2020, after returning to the position of CEO, Baker's salary was more than $3 million.
  > In 2021, her salary rose again to more than $5.5 million,
  > and again to over $6.9 million in 2022.
  >
  > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Baker#Mozilla_Foundation_and_Mozilla_Corporation

And what percent of revenue was this?

0.55% in 2018, rising to 1.1% in 2022

Saving 1.1% of revenue would make them financially independent of Google?

>$236M on other things This is from another poster. I'm guessing stuff not related to Firefox development.

$236M included facilities, administration, marketing, and so on.

Yes, they should trim most of that fat.

How much is fat?

Mozilla took in the money from the distant past all the way into the present. They have leaned into privacy the whole time, while not being perfect.

At some point they ease off the google money or it goes away itself. And they move forward on privacy.

Google was less demanding in the past as well; they continue to give Apple billions each year.

There are a number of privacy-oriented business models, as listed here: https://aol.codeberg.page/eci/status.html - while not as lucrative as some, combined with an endowment its a good living that many companies would envy.




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