Mozilla

Performance indicators

2015: Revenue growth despite Google contract termination

In early 2016, Mozilla published its annual financial report. Despite the termination of cooperation with Google, the company was able to increase revenues by 28%, which was the strongest rise in three years.

According to the results of the 12-month reporting period, closed on December 31, 2015, Mozilla's revenue reached $421.3 million against $329.6 million in 2014. In 2012 and 2013, financial indicators were measured at $311 million and $314 million, respectively.

Mozilla annual revenue up 28% despite end of Google tie-up

Mozilla was able to significantly increase revenue even after it severed its partnerships with Google. Until November 2014, the default search engine browser Firefox in was Google, and the home page was Google.com. On this partnership, Mozilla earned $139 million in 2011 (85% of total revenue), and a year later, revenue grew more than twice - to $280 million (90%).

Mozilla's new partner is Yahoo! Mozilla did not disclose the share of revenues from working with this company, but they note that most of the revenue in 2015 (about $417 million) was borrowed for the use of search services Bing, Yahoo!, Yandex, Amazon and eBay, cooperation with Pocket and placing contextual advertising blocks on the start page.

In 2015, Mozilla raised $4.5 million in donations against $4.2 million in 2014. The volume of investments amounted to $227 million, and total expenses - $337.7 million. The latest indicator includes development costs ($214 million versus $212 million in 2014), service support ($13 million), marketing ($60 million) and administrative costs ($39 million).

By the end of 2015, Mozilla's net worth was $323 million, up 21% from 12 months ago.^[1]

2010

Cooperation with Google brought it 84% of revenues in 2010. The company's revenue in 2010 reached $123 million (that is, about $100 million of which was brought by a deal with the search giant).

2009

Mozilla's revenues in 2009 amounted to $104 million, with most of them (86%) still coming from a search deal with Google, one of Mozilla's main competitors in the browser market. In addition, the Firefox developer notes that cooperation with the Russian Yandex is also bearing significant fruit.. 2009 revenues are 34% higher than in 2008, when revenues amounted to $78 million. Income indicators include $104 thousand in losses due to long-term investments, which is also much better than 2008, when losses in this column amounted to $7.8 million.

Mozilla's total spending in 2009 was $61 million, up 26% from $49 million in 2008. According to company representatives, in many respects, the increase in company expenses was due to an increase in spending on employees and infrastructure. As of the end of 2009, Mozilla employed about 250 people worldwide.

History

2024

Lay off 30% of employees

In early November 2024, the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit organization owned by Mozilla Corporation (developing the Firefox web browser), announced a large-scale restructuring. This program involves a staff reduction of approximately 30% and the closure of the Public Interest Protection (Advocacy) Division.

The Mozilla Foundation said in a statement that the organization faces an "unrelenting onslaught of change." Changing the structure is necessary to increase flexibility and adapt to future changes.

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engadget.com

The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing the team in order to accelerate work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for all. Unfortunately, this means that we are stopping some of our projects and eliminating their positions to focus on priorities, "said Brandon Borrman, vice president of communications at Mozilla.

According to The Register, as of November 2024, the Mozilla Foundation has about 120 employees. Thus, approximately 35 people could lose their jobs. A representative of Mozilla, referred to by TechCrunch, did not dispute these figures.

The bulk of Mozilla Foundation's work focuses on protecting privacy, inclusivity and decentralization of technology, as well as "creating a safer and more transparent online space for all." The organization consists of several structures, one of which is the mentioned Mozilla Corporation, and the other is a non-profit foundation that oversees the Mozilla corporate governance model and determines Firefox policy. Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed confirmed that the fund's two main divisions - advocacy and global programs - have been eliminated.^[2]

5% staff reduction

In mid-February 2024, it became known that Mozilla will conduct a large-scale reorganization, within which some projects will be curtailed, and the number of personnel will be reduced. It is expected that these measures will optimize business operations and focus efforts on the highest priority areas.

The restructuring is being carried out under the leadership of the new CEO of Mozilla Laura Chambers, who in early February 2024 was replaced by Mitchell Baker. Chambers previously held senior positions at Airbnb and eBay, and served on the board of Mozilla itself.

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Pexels

As part of the reorganization, Mozilla's staff will be reduced by 5%, which will result in the dismissal of approximately 60 employees. The company plans to reduce investment in a range of products, including VPN, Relay and Online Footprint Scrubber. In addition, Mozilla will close Hubs, its virtual 3D world launched in 2018. At the same time, the company will continue to invest in products that meet customer needs and market trends.

We are cutting funding for some areas to focus on areas we believe have the greatest chance of success. Resources will be refocused on products such as Firefox Mobile, where there is significant growth opportunity, Mozilla said in a statement.

In the future, the company also intends to focus on introducing artificial intelligence technologies into the Firefox browser. To do this, units working on Pocket and Content will be combined, as well as groups involved in AI and machine learning technologies. Taking into account all these changes, one of the main focuses of Mozilla is the acceleration of Firefox.^[3]

2022: Buying Active Replica

On November 30, 2022, Mozilla announced the acquisition of Active Replica, a startup specializing in the development of technologies and services for metaverse. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more here.

2021: Launch of the organization to develop the Rust programming language

In early February 2021, Google, Microsoft, AWS, Huawei, Mozilla launched the Rust Foundation, a non-profit organization. She will be responsible for supporting the ecosystem and developers of the Rust software language, as well as sponsoring the project. Read more here.

2020: Downsizing a third of the workforce, finding new sources of revenue

On August 11, 2020, Mozilla announced a reduction in headcount by about a third, as well as the start of the search for new sources of revenue.

According to the head of Mozilla and the chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, Mitchell Baker, in an open letter to employees, about 250 people are fired. Another 60 employees will be transferred to other units. In addition, as part of the reorganization, Mozilla is winding down work in Taipei.

All dismissed employees will be paid severance pay for the rest of the year, as well as bonuses for the first half of the year. In addition, Mozilla will create a special talent catalog where it "advertises" the skills and experience of fired employees

According to Baker, COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic Mozilla's financial performance was heavily impacted. COVID-19 Internet As a result, the plan Mozilla created before - creating the "best," investing in innovation and adjusting financial strategy - no longer "works," she acknowledged.

Mozilla cuts a third of state and seeks new revenue streams

These are not the first layoffs at Mozilla in 2020. In January, the company announced about 70 job cuts and attributed it to cost optimization.

According to Constellation Research analyst Holger Mueller, for some reason, the fire of innovation is "fading" at Mozilla, and given the recent layoffs, it will be harder for the company to succeed. But this does not apply to the quality of resources for the development of technical products, such as a browser, the expert believes.

Mitchell Baker says Mozilla is forced to change strategy, so the decision was made to focus on building the community, creating new products and revenue sources. In particular, the company decided to pay increased attention to data security and privacy tools.^[4]

2011

In November 2011, Firefox lost for the first time the second most popular browser Chrome from Google. According to StatCounter, in November 2011, the share of Chrome reached 25.70% versus 25.23% for Firefox. Internet Explorer took 40.63% of the market.

According to Net Applications, Firefox's global market share has shrunk from 25% to 22% over the past 2 years, while Chrome has grown from 5% to more than 18%. Moreover, the latter is 4 years younger than the "Fire Fox."

In December 2011, it became clear that the future of Mozilla's popular Firefox browser was in doubt after the company's cooperation agreement with Internet giant Google, extended in 2008 and bringing Mozilla the lion's share^[5] revenue^[5].

A search deal with Google, in which the search engine of this company is the default search in Firefox and the Google.com is the default home page, expired in November 2011 and has not yet been extended. According to experts, this suggests that Mozilla may be left without the largest source of income for itself.

ZDNet reports that it has not received an answer from Mozilla when asked if they are in talks with Google to continue cooperation. The answer was not given a few days ago, in December, or in July, when journalists had already raised this topic. The company said it "does not have any information to share." Interestingly, even Mozilla's financial report does not mention a "search partner" by name, which may indicate a very strained relationship between the parties.

According to some analysts, in the event of Google's abandonment of the search partnership (which is likely due to the competition of companies in the market), the Firefox browser is expected to face difficult times.

Notes