We have reported that Yahoo is currently up for sale. What is not known is that the biggest winner in a possible sale of it companys may actually be the Mozilla Foundation, which is expected to earn a billion dollars!
Recode uncovered a clause in Mozilla's contract with Yahoo that says if it doesn't like Yahoo's buyer, the Mozilla Foundation has right for three annual installments of $375 million through 2019.
It's part of a deal reached by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in 2014, making the company the default searching machine for the Mozilla Firefox browser.
In a statement, Mozilla's spokesman said:
Each of the search partnerships is the result of a competitive one procedures that reflects the value of Firefox in the ecosystem. The relationship with Yahoo is no different.
Let's mention that Mozilla's main form of income (90 percent) is the agreements it makes to search, according to Recode. Google paid 300 a million dollars a year, but Mayer in an attempt to put Yahoo's search engine on Firefox seems to be committed to something more.
This does not mean, however, that the Mozilla Foundation will take the money, but it could. The Penalty Clause lays down no criteria as to why the Mozilla Foundation could raise money by making the deal very relaxed.
Let us also mention that the new owner may not want to pay and that this could prevent Yahoo's sale.
But whatever the agreement leaves the Mozilla Foundation free. He can redeem the money and also sign a new contract directly with another company (Google or Bing). Yahoo and Marissa Mayer sound like the losers of the case.
