But I agree that default search with being Google must have heavily blocked competition.
Comparing how much they pay Mozilla and Apple to maintain search, it would be reasonable to estimate Chrome’s implementation to save them $1b a year
But I highly doubt they make any back given > 1k people work on it
For example, if google didn't control the most popular browser, they probably would have had to say goodbye to third party cookies a long time ago, but since they do they've been able to delay it for quite a while, at least for a considerable portion of users.
It's everyone else who wants to keep them around.
And then look at Google's "privacy sandbox proposals, that aim to replace third party cookie functionality. They have largely been rejected by Mozilla and Apple, over privacy concerns.
I think you are underestimating it. There must be a reason why google is trying to work around ad blockers on their platforms.
> But I highly doubt they make any back given > 1k people work on it
Where did you find that number? I highly doubt it. Maybe if you are counting contributors to chromium.