When you are looking for something on your iPhone or Android Telphone, most likely you use Google. For many of us, Google has become the basis of search engines. However, the company also actively invests in its dominant position.
In 2021, Google spent $ 26.3 billion so that its search engine remains the main on mobile phones and web browsers, as shown by the judicial document published on Friday. This document has become part of the current antitrust claim against the technological giant by the US government and several states.
According to CNBC report, the document shows how much Google paid to his partners, such as Apple, so that his search engine remains preferred on their devices. The US Department of Justice and a group of state prosecutors accused Google of abuse of their market position, using their influence to block competitors from access to key distribution channels.
Although the exact amounts of payments to partners are not indicated, the Bernstein research company evaluates that Google can pay Apple up to 19 billion dollars this year for the default installation on Apple devices.
The Department of Justice accuses Google of the company annually allocates significant amounts to distributors, including large manufacturers of devices and browsers. These means are used to install the Google search engine as the main and, in many cases, to limit the interaction of Google partners with its competitors.
Google defends its position, stating that users can easily change their default search engine.
The court document also provided data on the income and expenses of the Google search business. In 2021, the search unit earned more than $ 146 billion, while the costs of attracting traffic amounted to more than $ 26 billion.
In addition, Google announced his intention to invest up to $ 2 billion in the Anthropic artificial intelligence company. Google is already an investor in Anthropic, and these additional investments reflect the company’s reinforced efforts to strengthen its competitive position, especially in the light of Microsoft support for Openai.