The Mozilla Foundation recently released its 2022 annual report. This report ends in December 2022. The report is always released with a lag of one year, so the annual report ending in 2023 will not be released until December 2024.

There are several points worthy of attention in this report:

  • The Mozilla Foundation CEO’s salary increased significantly compared with the previous year;

  • The Mozilla Foundation's overall revenue declined;

  • Firefox browser's market share declines;

  • The total assets of the Mozilla Foundation have increased significantly;

  • Advertising and subscription revenue increased slightly.

    • If you just look at the CEO's salary, you may have questions about why the overall revenue has declined and the Firefox browser share continues to decline. Why can the CEO continue to increase his salary? Judging from the report, the Mozilla Foundation is actually promoting the de-browserization of Firefox, which means that the business of the Firefox browser itself may no longer be the mainstay of revenue.

    CEO compensation:

    The current CEO of the Mozilla Foundation is Mitchell Baker. She is also the chairman and chairman of the Mozilla Foundation. She was originally a member of the Netscape legal team. After the establishment of the Mozilla Foundation, Mitchell Baker has served as the main leader to this day.

    Mitchell Baker's salary in 2021 is $5.6 million and his salary in 2022 is $6.9 million, an increase of $1.3 million.

    Mozilla Foundation overall revenue:

    The foundation's overall income in 2022 is US$593 million, and in 2021 it is US$600 million. Overall, the difference is basically not big.

    Firefox browser market share:

    The market share of the Firefox browser has dropped from 3.79% in 2021 to 3.04%. For the Firefox browser, this share has dropped quite a lot.

    Mozilla Foundation total assets:

    Why can Mozilla Foundation's overall revenue decline and Firefox browser share decline? Can the CEO continue to increase his salary? The reason may be this: The Mozilla Foundation's total assets grew to $13, an increase of $157 million from 2021.

    The report shows that the Mozilla Foundation’s cash reserves reached US$513 million in 2022, a significant increase from US$378 million in 2021.

    Since revenue is declining, why are total assets still growing? Because income is business income, and total assets also include various types of investment income and other types of income.

    De-Firefox - Advertising and subscription revenue growth

    One of the revenue components of the Firefox browser is "royalty". In 2022, the Firefox browser royalty revenue decreased by US$17 million. Most of this royalty is paid by one company - Google.

    The built-in search engine of the Firefox browser provides traffic to companies such as Google and Microsoft, and the default search is Google search, so Google needs to pay a traffic fee to the Firefox browser every year.

    As the Firefox browser's market share gradually declines, a decline in royalty income is inevitable.

    However, advertising and subscription revenue have grown significantly. In 2022, related subscription services such as Pocket Premium and MozillaVPN, as well as advertising service revenue, reached US$75 million, a significant increase from US$56 million in 2021.

    For the Mozilla Foundation, this revenue actually accounts for a very low proportion, but there is a good development trend, which is to de-Firefox. It does not mean that the Firefox browser is no longer needed, but that the search engine diversion of the Firefox browser is no longer the main income.

    In the past, the Firefox browser's annual revenue from diverting traffic to Google was still very considerable, but now the Mozilla Foundation's revenue has been diversified.

    De-Firefoxing is no joke:

    In fact, when the Mozilla Foundation explained its future vision earlier this year, it did not mention the Firefox browser. The foundation's future vision focuses on artificial intelligence, and the four key investment directions are all related to AI, which is evident from this.

    Mozilla Foundation leadership has a clear goal of taking the foundation in a different direction, so Firefox's declining market share is no longer a concern.

    Of course, there will definitely be regrets for Firefox browser users, because future key investments will not include the Firefox browser, which may affect future investment in the development and promotion of the Firefox browser.