Mozilla Foundation Lays Open its Financial Results
The Mozilla Foundation survived 2008 fairly well despite the economic downturn, says chairman of the foundation Mitchell Baker in her blog. In it she's pretty detailed about its financial status and lays out the figures.
Mitchell's financial statement reports that the revenue from 2007 to 2008 grew from $75.1 to $76.8 million, a five percent increase. Most of it came from integrated search engines in Firefox, primarily from Google. However, the 2008 revenues include a $7.8 million loss in long-term portfolio investment resulting from the economic conditions.
The end of 2008 saw 200 people working full- or part-time for Mozilla, which amounted to 58% of the expenses. Total assets of the foundation were $116 million in 2008, compared with $99 the previous year
Of some concern is an IRS audit to examine records from 2004-2007. According to Mitchell in her blog, "We do not yet have a good feel for how long this will take or the overall scope of what will be involved." Fortunately the foundation established a "tax reserve fund" in 2005 just in case.
Among the Mozilla Foundation's supported projects are Mozdev, the Software Freedom Conservancy, Firebug and the jQuery library. Mitchell indicates that "2008 was another exciting and robust year for Mozilla." During it was launched Mozilla Messaging to develop Thunderbird and establish the new Raindrop messaging service. The year also launched experiments such as the Ubiquity natural language browser interface and expanded programs such as Weave, Personas and Prism.
The financial statement also has a few figures about users. By Mozilla's reckoning, by the end of 2008 daily 110 million people used the Firefox browser, which amounted to about a 22% market share. (The U.S. share was somewhat lower, at 20%, than the European share, at 32%.) As of November 2009, the worldwide figure grew to 25%.
Looking forward, Baker acknowledges that the explosion of mobile devices has been complex due to the variety of platforms and the resulting competition to find customers. Mozilla has been working hard on a mobile browser since 2008 and it should see the light of day by the end of 2009. The Thunderbird 3 email program should also appear in 2009.
Mozilla has accomplished a lot, says Baker. But the growing competition is definitely a challenge for the future. As she says, "Let's go surprise people once again by showing how much better we can make the Internet experience."
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Halcyon Creates Anti-Ransomware Protection for Linux
As more Linux systems are targeted by ransomware, Halcyon is stepping up its protection.
-
Valve and Arch Linux Announce Collaboration
Valve and Arch have come together for two projects that will have a serious impact on the Linux distribution.
-
Hacker Successfully Runs Linux on a CPU from the Early ‘70s
From the office of "Look what I can do," Dmitry Grinberg was able to get Linux running on a processor that was created in 1971.
-
OSI and LPI Form Strategic Alliance
With a goal of strengthening Linux and open source communities, this new alliance aims to nurture the growth of more highly skilled professionals.
-
Fedora 41 Beta Available with Some Interesting Additions
If you're a Fedora fan, you'll be excited to hear the beta version of the latest release is now available for testing and includes plenty of updates.
-
AlmaLinux Unveils New Hardware Certification Process
The AlmaLinux Hardware Certification Program run by the Certification Special Interest Group (SIG) aims to ensure seamless compatibility between AlmaLinux and a wide range of hardware configurations.
-
Wind River Introduces eLxr Pro Linux Solution
eLxr Pro offers an end-to-end Linux solution backed by expert commercial support.
-
Juno Tab 3 Launches with Ubuntu 24.04
Anyone looking for a full-blown Linux tablet need look no further. Juno has released the Tab 3.
-
New KDE Slimbook Plasma Available for Preorder
Powered by an AMD Ryzen CPU, the latest KDE Slimbook laptop is powerful enough for local AI tasks.
-
Rhino Linux Announces Latest "Quick Update"
If you prefer your Linux distribution to be of the rolling type, Rhino Linux delivers a beautiful and reliable experience.