Google pays 36% of search revenue from Safari to Apple Inc

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Written on Nov 14, 2023

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The 36% figure was revealed by an expert witness and confirmed by CEO Pichai.
Google likely doesn't pay nearly as much to Samsung as it does to Apple.
Alphabet shares are currently up a whopping 45% versus the start of this year.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is in focus today following news that Google pays 36% of the total search revenue it generates from “Safari” to Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL).

The said figure was first revealed by Kevin Murphy (expert witness) as he testified on Google’s behalf in open court on Tuesday – and was later confirmed by Sundar Pichai himself.

The Chief Executive of Alphabet Inc substantiated the 36% figure in a separate testimony related to his company’s legal battle with Epic Games.

Details of the revenue-sharing agreement between Apple and Google which are central to the latter’s ongoing antitrust battle with the Department of Justice were not known until this morning.

DOJ's Antitrust Division is currently litigating two landmark monopolization cases challenging Google's anti-competitive practices.

Today in @HouseJudiciary, I asked AAG Kanter about how Congress can build on DOJ's efforts to take on large companies on behalf of consumers: pic.twitter.com/VX35R8nZXI
— Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (@RepMGS) November 14, 2023

The news arrives only weeks after Alphabet Inc reported market-beating results for its third financial quarter. Google stock is currently up about 45% versus the start of this year.

Google doesn’t pay nearly as much to Samsung

On Tuesday, the Epic attorney also alleged that Samsung doesn’t even receive half of what Alphabet Inc pays to Apple as part of the default search agreement.

CEO Pichai did agree it was possible but dubbed it like comparing “apples and oranges”.

In 2022, Google had traffic acquisition costs or TAC of nearly $49 billion in total which include such payments to Apple and Samsung. Search ads generated $162.45 billion in revenue for the company last year.

Google, Apple, and Samsung have not so far commented on Sundar Pichai’s testimony on Tuesday. Wall Street currently has a consensus “buy” rating on Alphabet Inc.