The organization once banked on the millions that Google paid for search traffic from the Firefox browser.

Now it relies on Yahoo, Baidu and others, and it expects revenue to grow. The developer behind the widely used Firefox browser said Wednesday that it no longer relies on Google for its revenue and is confident new search-engine deals will bring in even more money.

For years, Google in effect sponsored Mozilla by paying for Web searches launched through Firefox. Mozilla, based in Mountain View, California, ditched the global Google deal at the end of last year, moving instead to regional deals with other search engine companies, notably Yahoo in the United States, Baidu in China and Yandex in Russia.

Now, Mozilla gets no revenue at all from Google, even though Google is still the default search engine for Firefox users in Europe, said Denelle Dixon-Thayer, Mozilla's chief business and legal officer. Mozilla is leaving money on the table at the moment, she confirmed, but the approach gives Mozilla flexibility. For Mozilla, more competition means giving consumers more choices when they access information and services online.

The online world has pushed beyond the PC, though, expanding to mobile experiences tightly controlled by companies like Apple and Google. A self-reliant Mozilla would help make it harder for those giants to abuse their positions of power by, for example, skewing search results in their own favor or blocking access to content from rivals. Google and Mozilla often are allies, each seeking to make the Web better for activities like e-commerce, blogging, social networking, news publishing and communication.

But the tight financial relationship also was unusual given how often Google was at odds with Mozilla's mission to ensure people have choices in their online activities. Google maintains tight control over its Android smartphone software and its many linked services such as Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Music and Google Docs.

Mozilla is holding its own financially and expects to keep doing so without Google's money.

Chief Financial Officer Jim Cook indicated that the current year's figure will be even better, given Mozilla's new, "very strong" search deals. Mozilla is a nonprofit organization that doesn't operate like Google, Microsoft and Apple, its biggest competitors in the browser market. But Mozilla does pay attention to keeping the lights on and recruiting talent. Mozilla employs about 1, people worldwide now, boosted by the work of more than 10, volunteers, he added.

Mozilla's search-related income is based a combination of fixed payments and revenue that depends on the traffic that Firefox generates, Dixon-Thayer said. The new Tracking Protection tool in Mozilla's Firefox browser stops websites from tracking your activity, and some ads may not show up on the page.

How Mozilla Firefox And Google Chrome Make Money | Investopedia

Also, Samsung deals with security bugs in the Galaxy S6 Edge, and Microsoft tests Cortana on iPhones. In the smartphone realm, Mozilla has been trying to combat the dominance of Google's Android and Apple's competing iOS with its own mobile operating system, Firefox OS.

Mozilla's strategy had been to spread the software to lower-end phones in developing markets that hadn't yet undergone the smartphone revolution. But Chris Beard , who took over as Mozilla's chief executive in , concluded earlier this year that the plan wasn't working. The new mobile goal is to spread Firefox OS to enthusiasts. Now, Android phone users can install a version that runs as an Android app or, for those feeling more experimental, completely replace Android with Firefox OS.

How Does Mozilla Make Money and Stay Afloat?

That effort also includes a version of Firefox for Android phones and, as of two weeks ago, Firefox for Apple's iOS. Because of Apple's rules, though, Firefox for iOS is built with Apple's browser technology at the core, which means Mozilla can't use it to advance the Web standards it believes are important.

Mozilla has been saying for years that it's trying to boost its mobile efforts , but it hasn't had much to show. On smartphones, its share of browser usage is virtually nonexistent, according to analytics firm Statcounter. Firefox OS is equally absent among mobile operating systems. Mozilla has helped advance Web technology for mobile devices, though.

Even if that doesn't necessarily directly help Firefox, the tech can aid the Web itself when other browser makers embrace the standards. Even if people don't seem to fret about the degree of control Apple and Google exercise over them today, that can change, as it did a decade ago when Firefox showed the world there was a desirable alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.

Google's first phone has a lot of stiff competition. Hopefully, its next devices measure up. Today's major tech stories include a massive data breach that exposes American voters, Time Warner's new content deal with Snap and the FTC moves to block a big fantasy sports merger.

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We don't need Google's money anymore The organization once banked on the millions that Google paid for search traffic from the Firefox browser. The Firefox browser once had a tight bond with Google.

Today, not so much. Mozilla Mozilla is doing just fine without the millions of dollars it once pulled in from Google. Firefox blocks ads from tracking you The new Tracking Protection tool in Mozilla's Firefox browser stops websites from tracking your activity, and some ads may not show up on the page.

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Features Google needs to change about the Pixel Google's first phone has a lot of stiff competition. Massive US voter data breach, FTC to block fantasy sports merger Today's major tech stories include a massive data breach that exposes American voters, Time Warner's new content deal with Snap and the FTC moves to block a big fantasy sports merger.