Google Dodges Breakup Ruling as Judge Rejects DOJ's Antitrust Claim

A federal judge has rejected the Department of Justice's attempt to force Google to sell off its advertising technology business. This ruling spares Google from a potentially business-splitting antitrust decision and allows it to keep its ad-tech business intact.

The court found that Google does not need to break up its advertising business, citing a January 2023 lawsuit by the DOJ and eight states alleging that Google had monopolized key parts of the digital advertising market. The lawsuit claimed that Google used acquisitions and its ad-tech stack to put competitors at a disadvantage.

The court has accepted most of the proposed behavioral remedies intended to curb anticompetitive conduct, but details on these measures remain sealed in an accompanying Memorandum Opinion. The parties have 15 days to request redactions to the opinion and 30 days to file a jointly proposed Final Judgment.