Google insisted Apple help them fight the US Government on antitrust

The Apple chief who negotiated the $160 billion default deal with Google said the search engine insisted on a special clause...

The Apple chief who negotiated the $160 billion default search engine deal with Google said the search giant insisted on a clause to fight together if the US Government ever took antitrust action against them.

The deal, which dates back to 2002, put two of digital’s most fierce rivals in cahoots on search and search advertising, and is the keystone of the US’ Department of Justice’s argument that Google has an unfair advantage.

Google pays Apple as much as $10 billion-a-year to be the default search engine in Safari and on iPhones, as well as a 40% share of search ad revenue.

In return, Apple provides half of the world’s mobile search traffic to Google. The court heard last week that Apple now generates half Google’s $160 billion in annual revenue.

The scale of the deal cannot be overstated. It is that paperwork that determines where 41% of the world’s total digital ad spend goes - or more importantly, doesn’t.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of products, told the court yesterday that he ran a ren…