Mozilla's Revenue Growth Slows Down Amid Changes at the Organization

As I noted here yesterday, Mozilla is going through a huge sea change. It has historically gotten more than 90 percent of its revenues from Google, to the tune of $300 million recently, in exchange for search placement in the Firefox browser.  That has completely changed, and now Mozilla has struck a similar five-year deal with Yahoo.

The nonprofit organization has also disclosed its latest financial details in a tax filing published this week, which show that its revenues increased by only 1 percent to $314 million from 2012 to 2013.

That represents by far the smallest growth in revenues for Mozilla in recent years.

"The State of Mozilla" report also notes that Mozilla grew investments in its products by 40 percent. That caused cash flows from operations to be cut nearly in half from $70.3 million in 2012 to $36.9 million in 2013.

As we've reported, the company is shifting heavily toward a focus on its Firefox OS mobile platform, which is requiring investments and personnel shifts.

Yahoo will also help overhaul search in Firefox. "Our new search strategy doubles down on our commitment to make Firefox a browser for everyone," said CEO Chris Beard in a post this week. "We believe it will empower more people, in more places with more choice and opportunity to innovate and ultimately put even more people in control over their lives online."

 The Firefox browser just turned 10, but it is no longer the center of Mozilla's universe. The organization will become much more dependent on Yahoo with its new deal in place, and will focus more on mobile platform growth.

"We will now focus on expanding our work with motivated partners to explore innovative new search interfaces, content experiences, and privacy enhancements across desktop and mobile," said Beard.

You can find out more about Mozilla's financial report in its downloadable disclosure here.