Google stock jumps as judge rules it can keep Chrome in antitrust case

Alphabet shares popped 8% in extended trading as investors celebrated what they viewed as minimal consequences from a historic defeat last year in the landmark antitrust case.

Last year, Google was found to hold an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences that were proposed by the Department of Justice, including the forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser, which provides data that helps its advertising business deliver targeted ads. 

“Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision stated. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divestiture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.”

Mehta, who oversaw the remedies trial in May, ordered the parties to meet by Sept. 10 for the final judgment.

In August 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act and held a monopoly in search and related advertising.

The antitrust trial started in September 2023.

“Now the Court has imposed limits on how we distribute Google services, and will require us to share Search data with rivals,” Google said in a blog post. “We have concerns about how these requirements will impact our users and their privacy, and we’re reviewing the decision closely. The Court did recognize that divesting Chrome and Android would have gone beyond the case’s focus on search distribution, and would have harmed consumers and our partners.”

One of the key areas of focus was the exclusive contracts Google held for distribution.

In his decision Tuesday, Mehta said the company can make payments to preload products, but it cannot have exclusive contracts that condition payments or licensing.

The DOJ had asked Google to stop the practice of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones.

“The court’s ruling today recognizes the need for remedies that will pry open the market for general search services, which has been frozen in place for over a decade,” the DOJ said in a press release. “The ruling also recognizes the need to prevent Google from using the same anticompetitive tactics for its GenAI products as it used to monopolize the search market, and the remedies will reach GenAI technologies and companies.”

Google pays Apple billions of dollars per year to be the default search engine on iPhones. It’s lucrative for Apple and a valuable way for Google to get more search volume and users.

Apple stock rose 4% on Tuesday after hours.

“Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products. Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial—in some cases, crippling—downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban.”

Google was also ordered to loosen its hold on search data.

During the remedies trial in May, the DOJ asked the judge to force Google to share the data it uses for generating search results, such as data about what users click on.

Mehta ruled Tuesday that Google will have to make available certain search index data and user interaction data, though “not ads data.”

Google does not have to share or provide access to granular data with advertisers.

The court narrowed the datasets Google will be required to share and said they must occur on “ordinary commercial terms that are consistent with Google’s current syndication services.”