Google Wins Reprieve from Breakup, Must Still Make Changes

A federal judge has rejected a request from the US Justice Department to break up Google's advertising technology business, ruling that while the company does have a monopoly over online ad placement, it must still make changes to benefit competitors.

The decision was made by Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, who found last year that Google broke antitrust laws to protect its dominance in the ad tech industry.

The Justice Department had requested that Google sell off parts of its business, but Brinkema instead ordered the company to change its business practices to benefit competitors, although she did not provide specifics.

Google's ad tech business brought in $30 billion last year, or about 8 percent of the revenue for its parent company Alphabet. Analysts say that despite two federal court rulings declaring Google a monopolist, judges have not ordered significant structural changes to its $4.1 trillion business.