Both Bing and Yahoo have outbid Google in certain countries in the past. There’s a new wave of AI powered startups with tons of venture capital. I could imagine them making sizable bids.
But I get what you mean. The main difference to your scenario is: search money will definitely not totally disappear, Mozilla has huge savings, and they can just finally pivot and focus on making a real premium offer that people would want to pay for.
Yup, I know. I wish you the best of luck.