Abstract:
A U.S. federal court recently ruled that Google does not need to sell a major component of its advertising technology business, thus avoiding the most severe antitrust measures proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Google will keep its ad technology business intact and won't have to break it up as ordered by the court.
Previously, Google had been found to have an illegal monopoly in the digital advertising market. The U.S. Department of Justice had asked the court to take structural remedies, including spinning off Google Ad Manager, the Google advertising management platform, from the company and selling it to other businesses.
However, the court did not completely reject the regulatory requirement. The judge accepted most of the behavioral remedies aimed at limiting Google's anticompetitive conduct, but the specifics have not yet been made public and are sealed in an accompanying court opinion. Google and the U.S. Department of Justice have 15 days to file an expungement application, and both parties need to negotiate within 30 days and jointly submit a draft final judgment.
The case began in January 2023. At that time, the U.S. Department of Justice and eight states sued Google, accusing it of controlling key links in the digital advertising market through acquisitions and advertising technology systems, and taking advantage of its ability to connect advertising buyers and sellers at the same time to squeeze out competitors, push up advertising space prices, and weaken the ability of other companies to compete with it.
In 2025, Judge Brinkema ruled that Google did constitute a monopoly. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Justice advocated the mandatory breakup of Google’s advertising business and required it to spin off Google Ad Manager.
If Google’s ad tech business is forced to be sold, Apple could benefit. As Apple continues to expand its advertising business, the company has recently begun integrating advertising into its Apple Maps service.
Comments