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BY JIM FLINK

A billion bucks. That’s about what it costs -- to keep the top spot -- as one of the top search engines.
Google won a war with its biggest competitors -- holding its spot as the default search engine for Firefox.

All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher broke the story.

“Google’s main rival in the bid ... was Microsoft’s Bing search service, which was aggressively trying to hip-check it from the main search spot on the browser. That’s because the software giant has been spending a lot of money in efforts to grow Bing’s market share in the search market.”

The news Mozilla and Google had struck a deal -- wasn’t new. But the dollar amount -- shocked almost everyone -- including the folks at ZDNet.

“Well, Mozilla certainly fooled us. Just when we were counting Firefox out as a major Web browser player in the years ahead. Sure, Mozilla signed a new deal with Google, but by itself though many of us didn’t think the deal meant much. I assumed, along with many others, that Google could support Firefox with its pocket change while devoting all its real attention to its own Web browser: Chrome. Boy, were we wrong!”

So is it worth it? According to Swisher -- the search giant’s set to make it all back -- guaranteed.

But there’s also -- a three word answer -- to why Google went so big -- says ComputerWorld’s Preston Gralla.

“Fear of Bing.  Given Google's dominance, why should it worry about Bing? Because even though Microsoft has faltered in search, Bing is a solid search engine, quietly gaining market share. And Microsoft has a history of eventually squashing competitors after a long slog.”

And make no mistake, says VentureBeat. Google knew exactly what Microsoft had in mind.

“Microsoft, hungry to buy Bing more exposure, salivated over the search spot like a ravenous wolf, and was said to have competed ferociously to oust Google from the Firefox throne. The company, which produces the most-popular browser, Internet Explorer, is a distant second in the search market. It would have likely benefited greatly, to Google’s detriment, from additional default queries originating via Firefox.”

So how much time does a billion bucks by in search space?  Three years -- and then the bidding will begin again.