Firefox’s future at risk without Google deal, warns Mozilla amid antitrust shakeup

Mozilla, the nonprofit behind the Firefox browser, has raised a red flag: without its long-standing search engine partnership with Google, the future of Firefox could be in jeopardy.

This warning comes amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DoJ) sweeping antitrust case against Google, which aims to curb the tech giant’s dominance in search. One proposed remedy? Forcing Google to sell off its Chrome browser — a move Google CEO Sundar Pichai says could dismantle Google Search as we know it.

But Mozilla is worried about collateral damage. During court testimony on Friday, Mozilla CFO Eric Muhlheim shared deep concerns about the potential fallout. “It’s very frightening,” he said, noting that roughly 85% of Mozilla’s revenue comes from Google paying to be Firefox’s default search engine. For its for-profit arm, that figure jumps to 90%.

Losing that income, Muhlheim warned, would force Mozilla to make major cutbacks — including downsizing Firefox’s engineering team. That could lead to a "downward spiral" of declining product quality and user interest, possibly ending in the browser's demise. Beyond Firefox, Mozilla’s other open-source and AI projects — including tools aimed at fighting climate change — could also be derailed.

Ironically, such an outcome could bolster Big Tech’s grip on the web. Firefox’s Gecko engine remains the only major browser engine not owned by a tech giant — unlike Google’s Chromium or Apple’s WebKit. Mozilla originally developed Gecko to prevent Microsoft from dominating internet protocols, and it has been instrumental in keeping the web open and interoperable.

Judge Amit Mehta, overseeing the case, asked Muhlheim whether Mozilla would thrive in a world with another strong competitor to Google Search. “That would be a world that would be better for Mozilla,” Muhlheim agreed.

While companies like Yahoo have shown interest in acquiring Chrome, Mozilla has not. Instead, it’s urging caution — warning that in trying to dismantle one monopoly, regulators may unintentionally crush one of the last independent forces in the browser market.