Google is paying Apple $1 billion just to stay as the default search engine on the iPhone

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Tim Cook

REUTERS/Mike Blake

Apple CEO Tim Cook.

In 2014, Google paid Apple $1 billion just to keep its search engine as the default on the iPhone, Bloomberg reports.

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That number comes from the ongoing Google/Oracle legal battle, in which several accounting figures that Google would rather be kept secret have come to light - including what Oracle purports to be Google's Android revenue.

As for search, Google apparently struck a revenue-sharing deal with Apple, in which Apple gets a cut every time an iPhone or iPad user sees a Google ad via the default search. At one point, it was revealed, the revenue split stood at 34% for Apple.

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Both companies have been officially mum on how much cash actually flowed between the rivals from this arrangement.

Google would actually prefer that these stats stay secret. As Bloomberg reports, the judge ordered that record sealed, and the transcript of this portion of the court proceedings has apparently been struck from the internet.

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