Google Dodges US Breakup Over Display-Ad Business

Google has escaped being forced to break up its display-ad business in the US after a judge rejected proposals from plaintiffs to sell off parts of it.

The decision, handed down by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, will see Google implement 'behavioral remedies' instead, which govern its conduct but don't involve breaking up the company's operations.

This ruling comes after Google was found guilty of three violations of the Sherman Act in April for its business practices in the programmatic advertising system that fuels advertising on most sites. The judge cited Google's abuses of power in the publisher ad server formerly called DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), which connects to advertising sources to alert them of ad spots available at a site and holds roughly 90% of that market.

The case, brought by then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and eight states in January 2023, sought the forced divestiture of the Google Ad Manager suite, including DFP and AdX. Instead, Google posted its own proposed conduct remedies in lieu of a breakup, which included commitments to make real-time bid amounts for open web display ads from its ad exchange (AdX) available to all rival publisher ad servers.

Google's corporate blog did not have a comment on Brinkema rejecting a structural remedy as of Thursday. The company's press office sent this brief appreciation of the judge's decision from Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president for regulatory affairs: 'We're very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ's proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow.'

The European Commission, which brought a separate case against Google over its display-ad conduct, still prefers a forced breakup. After finding the company guilty of abusing its power in the publisher and advertiser sides of the display-ads market in June 2023, it said then that only a structural remedy would do.