Do they though?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/sources-mozilla-extends-its-go...

Yes. It's unwise to depend on a sole source of income.

Yeah this seems like an ok experiment so they aren't totally dependent on google for income.

I don't think browsers can make money so easily, except in the case of Opera which started collecting browsing history to show full page ads.

they just had to lay off dozens.

Step 1: fire everybody who isn't a programmer.

Step 2: budget problem is solved.

Step 3: learn the hard way why companies founded by nerds who are dismissive of entire other professions tend to go out of business even faster

Having been a nerd immersed in nerd culture for a few decades, I would suggest you consider that question in light of the degree to which the referenced trope is popular in our community. Yes, there are individual people who don’t contribute enough but that doesn’t mean that entire fields are useless any more than developers who slack or code for job security are an accurate representation of our field.