OPEN SAUCE Firefox earned the Mozzerella Foundation some $52.9 million, in 2005, big cheese Mitchell Baker disclosed in a blog posting.

Mozzeralla gets paid for traffic that it delivers to search engines though the browser's built in search feature.It also makes money on sales from its store and other revenue sources. The bulk of the revenue comes from search engine partnerships however.

The foundation spent $8.2million in 2005, most of which went to maintain a staff of developers and other employees who support Firefox as well as other open source projects such as the Thunderbird email client.

Baker boasted that the firm's financial success provides an alternative investmentr for people who seek to escape the world of start-ups and stock options and instead want to promote choice and innovation on the internet.

"It enables us to support massive communities of people who contribute their efforts to making the Internet experience better. It allows us to cultivate competitive, viable community innovation."

Baker hasn't yet disclosed revenue figures for 2006.