San Francisco, CA – Alphabet Inc. made a substantial $20 billion payment to Apple Inc. in 2022 for Google to remain the default search engine in the Safari browser, as revealed in recently unsealed court documents in the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google.

The agreement between the two tech giants lies at the core of this significant case, where antitrust enforcers allege that Google has unlawfully monopolized the online search market and its related advertising sector. Both the Justice Department and Google will present closing arguments in the case on Thursday and Friday, with a decision anticipated later this year.

During the trial in the previous fall, Apple executives refrained from disclosing the exact payment amount, only mentioning that Google paid “billions.” A Google witness later inadvertently disclosed that Google gives 36% of its search ad revenue to Apple.

The newly released court documents, filed late Tuesday preceding the closing arguments, offer the first public confirmation of Apple’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue revealing the figures. Figures of such nature are typically not disclosed by either company in their securities filings. It was also unveiled that Google’s payments to Apple made up 17.5% of Apple’s operating income in 2020.

The partnership with Apple stands as one of Google’s crucial default deals, as it solidifies Google as the search engine for the most popular smartphone in the US. Initially a free agreement in 2002, Google and Apple later decided to share revenue generated from search advertising, with Google paying Apple over $1 billion monthly for its default status by May 2021, as indicated in the court filing.

Microsoft Corp., behind the competing search engine Bing, persistently sought to sway Apple from its ties with Google. Microsoft even proposed sharing 90% of its ad revenue with Apple to make Bing the default in Safari, according to the court documents, previously undisclosed. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, testified at the trial, presenting various concessions, including concealing the Bing brand, all in an attempt to persuade Apple to transition, which he deemed as “game-changing.”

Nadella expressed, “Whomever they choose, they king-make,” highlighting Apple’s significant influence in the realm of search engine selections.