Firefox has risen quickly in the last few years to become one of the most dominant browsers in the market. The free-to-use browser is a product from Mozilla, a non-profit organization, who's dedicated to a free and open web experience.
But non-profit organizations still need funding in one form or another. And because it's one of the most popular browsers in the market, companies that deal in search would naturally want to be the default search engine in Firefox.
Google has skipped past Yahoo and Microsoft to seal an important three-year deal with Mozilla to be Firefox's default search engine. According to
All Things D, Google contributed to 84% of Mozilla's US$123 million revenue for 2010.
Google's own browser, Chrome (version 15) has already surpassed all other browsers to become the most popular browser on the Internet, and this deal with Mozilla will continue to bolster Google's presence on the Web.
All Things D also reported that despite the lucrative Google deal, Mozilla still maintains partnerships with other search providers such as Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, Amazon and eBay.