Shares of Google's parent company Alphabet plunged more than 6% on Thursday after the Justice Department asked a federal judge to order the sale of Google's Chrome web browser. This is one of several bailouts aimed at breaking Big Tech's monopoly on online search.
The drop in stock prices signaled uncertainty about Google's future on Wall Street after Justice Department lawyers outlined a series of proposed changes to Google's business in a filing late Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta will have the final say on what remedies to pursue after ruling in August that Google illegally controls the search market. Any bailout ordered by Mehta could have devastating consequences for an empire that generates more than $300 billion a year in revenue.
A forced sale of Chrome would “permanently end Google's control over this critical search access point, giving rival search engines access to the browser that is the gateway to the Internet for many users,” the Justice Department filed. stated in the document.
Federal regulators say that in addition to selling Chrome, Google must either sell its Android smartphone operating software or be prohibited from requiring search and other services on Android smartphones.
If Google fails to comply with the restrictions, a judge could later order it to sell Android, according to the filing. Bloomberg analysts estimated this week that Chrome could be worth up to $20 billion.
The Justice Department also asked a judge to block Google from entering into exclusive agreements with Apple and other companies to make its search engine enabled by default on most smartphones.
During the trial, federal authorities argued that Google relied on payments, including $20 billion to Apple in 2022 alone, to capture more than 90% of the search market.
Government lawyers are also calling on Google to stop sharing data with rival search companies for a decade and “self-prioritizing” its products, including YouTube and the Gemini AI chatbot.
Mehta is expected to make a final decision on the relief package by next summer. If he orders a forced sale of Chrome, Google would be required to do so within six months of the final ruling, pending the outcome of the appeal.
Google also faces a separate Justice Department antitrust case targeting its digital advertising empire, with closing arguments scheduled for next week.
Google slammed the Justice Department's recommendations in a lengthy blog post.
The company's chief legal officer, Kent Walker, who has been reprimanded by multiple federal judges for his role in implementing policies that led to the destruction of evidence related to antitrust investigations, called the Justice Department's brief “radical.” “interventionist policy”.
“The Department of Justice's very broad proposal goes far beyond the court's decision,” Walker said in the post. “It would break many Google products beyond search that people love and find useful in their daily lives.”
Google has indicated that it intends to appeal Mr. Mehta's initial judgment and any relief ordered.
Meanwhile, the search giant's critics praised the Justice Department's request.
Rival search engine DuckDuckGo, whose founder Gabriel Weinberg testified against Google during the trial, was among those who spoke in favor of the brief.
“The government has submitted a proposal that would free the search market from Google's illegal control and unleash a new era of innovation, investment and competition,” said Kamil Bazbaz, senior vice president of communications at DuckDuckGo.
“There is nothing fundamental about this proposal. It is firmly based on broad factual findings by the court and proposes a solution that is in line with existing antitrust law,” BazBaz added. .
Still, not everyone is convinced the Justice Department's proposal will be effective.
Bloomberg technology correspondent Mike Garman called the idea of forcing Chrome sales “ridiculous.”
“Chrome is worth billions of dollars to Google, but it's not on the public market,” Garman said. “And the company that buys it will create a new monopoly.”
President-elect Donald Trump's election victory has sparked new ripples in the battle over Google's future.
Trump has long been an outspoken critic of Google, accusing the company of displaying political bias and even interfering in elections in connection with biased search results.
But President Trump recently said he opposes breaking up the company because it would benefit other rivals, including China and Mark Zuckerberg's Meta.
Elsewhere, President Trump's attorney general nominee, Matt Gaetz, has publicly called for Google to be broken up, even though allegations of sexual misconduct during his time in Congress have made his appointment to the key post seem a certainty. Far from it.
