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Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

calpaterson.com

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Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#281

Post by mvdwoord »

panpanna wrote: post #266
bambax wrote: post #253

> Mobile browsing numbers are bleak: Firefox barely exists on phones, with a market share of less than half a percent. This is baffling given that mobile Firefox has a rare feature for a mobile browser: it's able to install extensions and so can block ads. This is true, and indeed very strange. I use FF on mobile and it works perfectly. So Mozilla's problems aren't only technical, there's also a question of market aw…

> I use FF on mobile and it works perfectly. Not anymore! To be consistent with their business screw ups, they addressed this with the latest updates. Now the mobile app a mess like the rest of Mozilla.

This, I have been a long time FF on Android user, mostly due to the ability to run add-ons (ublock etc). Latest update complete botched it. Couple of hnags/restarts every day, jittery UI, unintuitive button placement (e.g. new tab)...

I want to use Firefox (or any decent browser not based on chrome), for several reasons, but this way it gets harder and harder to justify to myself.

What alternatives do we have for non-chromium browsers that have a healthy plugin ecosystem?

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#282

Post by fireattack »

pkphilip wrote: post #87

It is interesting to note that Brendan Eich's severance pay when he was forced out of Mozilla was just $113,000. https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2015/11/30/mozilla... Also interesting to note that Brendan Eich too plotted a chart showing Baker's pay vs Mozilla stock's performance: https://twitter.com/BrendanEich/status/1217512049716035584 How anyone can claim that sort of pay hike when showing very poor res…

>Mozilla stock

Stock?

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#283

Post by noobermin »

Jonnax wrote: post #13

There's a quote from the CEO saying that they looked at the market and felt like they were being underpaid. And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. Firefox has a problem. It gets most of its revenue from Google. They need a different revenue stream but their ideas haven't worked. Their executives are clearly failures. But with such high pay, they're cashing out. Buying themsel…

You should read your comment back to yourself.

Imagine saying, "well, I know he gunned 20 kids in a school down, but he had such a bad day, he's just couldn't take it." Sure it's probably true, but it's definitely not right.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#284

Post by hobby-coder-guy »

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #237
jacquesm wrote: post #100

> And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. That must be a real comfort to all the people they laid off. This CEO needs to go, needs to be replaced by someone who is well versed in technology instead of in law.

Maybe we shouldn’t have canceled Eich after all...

We?

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#285

Post by [deleted] »

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #237
jacquesm wrote: post #100

> And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. That must be a real comfort to all the people they laid off. This CEO needs to go, needs to be replaced by someone who is well versed in technology instead of in law.

Maybe we shouldn’t have canceled Eich after all...

[deleted]

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#286

Post by sangnoir »

jacquesm wrote: post #243
fiblye wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't long ago that comments were shouting that this was the absolute most qualified person to lead Mozilla when others were questioning having a lawyer lead a tech company. Someone with at least a little hands-on experience in building a product really should be something companies look for in leadership. I mean, sure, Baker's done plenty for Mozilla, but Mozilla has been absolutely lost as to what they're tryin…

> t wasn't long ago that comments were shouting that this was the absolute most qualified person to lead Mozilla when others were questioning having a lawyer lead a tech company. I don't think you'll be able to attribute that quote to me. Eich fucked up, and should have realized that you can't be leading a flagship of diversity on the one hand and be a bigot on the other. But he resigned (he wasn't forced out, though…

> I don't think you'll be able to attribute that quote to me. Eich fucked up, and should have realized that you can't be leading a flagship of diversity on the one hand and be a bigot on the other.

I have a problem with characterizing Brendan Eich as a bigot for donating to a non-fringe political group. IIRC, the proposition campaign he donated to had close to a 50/50 split in support for/against. Eich's ouster crystalized in my mind that Mozilla wa no longer focused on its core mission (the signs were already there - dropped Thunderbird, had an oversized IoT dept). I am speaking as a person who was a vocal Firefox evangelist since the 2.x days

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#287

Post by cycrutchfield »

akerro wrote: post #238
Jonnax wrote: post #13

There's a quote from the CEO saying that they looked at the market and felt like they were being underpaid. And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. Firefox has a problem. It gets most of its revenue from Google. They need a different revenue stream but their ideas haven't worked. Their executives are clearly failures. But with such high pay, they're cashing out. Buying themsel…

> There's a quote from the CEO saying that they looked at the market and felt like they were being underpaid. afair AMD CEO is paid 4x less than Mozilla CEO.

including stock compensation?

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#288

Post by luckylion »

jameskraus wrote: post #113
lightgreen wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exec pay is usually tied to some metrics. Like market share or the revenue in case of Mozilla. (In the corporations it is usually done by offering CEO options with nonzero price.) If the company is not performing well, CEO only gets the basic salary (which is higher than engineer salary, but not too large.) When Mitchell was given a raise for no reason, it is a sign of corruption in Mozilla board.

This really isn't crazy compensation given the role and the industry. There are many execs making orders of magnitude more [0]. I know there is a bit of sticker-shock for people who haven't heard about top-level compensation, but it's not unheard of, just usually unspoken. https://usanewssite.com/news/the-unconventional-ceo-of-33-3-...

> There are many execs making orders of magnitude more

For that kind of negative growth? No, of course not.

> In its fiscal year ending January 31, 2019, for example, Snowflake had revenue of $96.7 million. A year later that number was $264.7 million, or growth of around 150% at scale.

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#289

Post by lordgrenville »

akerro wrote: post #238
Jonnax wrote: post #13

There's a quote from the CEO saying that they looked at the market and felt like they were being underpaid. And they can't reduce their salary now because it'd be unfair on their families. Firefox has a problem. It gets most of its revenue from Google. They need a different revenue stream but their ideas haven't worked. Their executives are clearly failures. But with such high pay, they're cashing out. Buying themsel…

> There's a quote from the CEO saying that they looked at the market and felt like they were being underpaid. afair AMD CEO is paid 4x less than Mozilla CEO.

That is shocking if true, but doesn't seem to be?

AMD's Lisa Su was the highest-paid CEO of a company in the S&P 500 last year. Su earned a total of $58.5 million in 2019 [0]

Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's top executive, was paid $2.4m in 2018 [1]

[0] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/01/tech/lisa-su-amd-highest-...

[1] http://calpaterson.com/mozilla.html

Re: Firefox usage is down despite Mozilla's top exec pay going up

#290

Post by yellowapple »

Certhas wrote: post #129
RobertoG wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had Telefónica on board. I think with better planning and execution it could be made to work.

Maybe maybe not. But it's also good to keep in mind who else failed in that space from many different angles. MS, Nokia, Blackberry, etc... If MS with infinite cash on hand could not get into that market then it is likely that chances of success were always very low. And it still might have been the right thing to try despite the chance being low.

> And it still might have been the right thing to try despite the chance being low.

This is exactly my take on it.

I think timing was a big part of it, too. They were too late to get a foothold on the current market, but too early to take advantage of the more open platforms coming out nowadays like the PinePhone.

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