Business Insider, November 2024
A breakup of Google just became slightly more likely. The Department of Justice on Wednesday asked the judge in its antitrust case against Google to force the company to sell its Chrome browser. That follows Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling in August that Google maintains an illegal monopoly in the search and advertising markets. Google will get to suggest its own remedies, likely in December, and the judge is expected to rule next year.
If Google ends up having to sell or spin off Chrome, it would be a blow to the company. Meanwhile, advertisers and search rivals would likely cheer the news, industry experts say. Separating Chrome from Google and preventing deals for default search placement “would put Google Search into competition with other paths for advertisers to reach potential customers,” John Kwoka, a professor of economics at Northeastern University, said. “Advertisers would find competitors for their business, rather than needing to pay a dominant search engine.”
