Google CEO Sundar Pichai, arrives for a US Senate bipartisan Synthetic Intelligence (AI) Perception Discussion board on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023. (Photograph by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photograph by MANDEL NGAN/AFP through Getty Pictures)
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Pictures
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday confirmed that Google pays Apple 36% of Safari search income, underneath the phrases of a default search settlement that’s core to the Justice Division’s antitrust claims.
Pichai was testifying in a separate lawsuit filed in opposition to Google by Epic Video games, the maker of Fortnite. An professional witness testifying on Google’s behalf in Washington, D.C., antitrust proceedings revealed the 36% determine in open court docket on Monday, apparently accidentally.
An lawyer for Epic requested Pichai if the element offered by Google’s witness was correct. “That is right,” Pichai responded.
The Epic lawyer then alleged that Google pays Samsung, Android’s largest {hardware} accomplice, lower than half of what it pays to Apple. Pichai replied that whereas he did not know for sure, it was doable.
“It is like apples and oranges,” Pichai stated concerning the Samsung deal. He added that the offers typically pay carriers. In later questioning, Pichai stated that Google competes “fiercely with Apple.”
Google spent practically $49 billion in Site visitors Acquisition Prices in 2022. Google’s TAC prices embody all of Google’s funds to corporations like Apple and Samsung to position its search engine in entrance of customers.
The breakdown of Google’s revenue-sharing settlement with Apple had been not been revealed till the Monday disclosure in court docket from College of Chicago economics professor Kevin Murphy. Murphy had been testifying on Google’s behalf and was responding to questions from Alphabet’s lead lawyer, Williams & Connolly accomplice John Schmidtlein, when he revealed the determine.
Alphabet is in the course of a number of authorized battles. It faces two separate Justice Division fits in Virginia and Washington, D.C., associated to allegedly anticompetitive habits. Alphabet can also be being sued by Epic Video games, which has alleged that the corporate maintained an unlawful monopoly with its Google Play retailer. Epic filed an identical swimsuit in opposition to Apple however misplaced in federal appeals court docket in April.
Apple, Google and Samsung didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for touch upon Pichai’s testimony.
–CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report.
