Google exempted from court order to sell Chrome and Android software

In a recent court ruling, Judge Amit Mehta decided against the US government's attempt to force Google to separate from its popular services, such as web search, Chrome, and AI software Gemini. This decision marks a significant turning point in the long-standing antitrust case against the tech giant.

The ruling, which was met with a 6.7 percent rise in Alphabet's stock price in after-hours trading, is seen as a victory for Google on the stock market. Gene Munster, an investor and long-time industry analyst, echoed this sentiment, commenting that the ruling was a victory for Google.

However, the measures ordered by Judge Mehta are expected to promote more competition in the rapidly growing business of artificial intelligence. Google will now have to share some data from its search engine with competitors, including parts of the search engine index and some user interaction information. This data is intended to help rival search engines like Microsoft's Bing and DuckDuckGo, as well as AI companies like OpenAI (developer of ChatGPT) and Perplexity, in developing their competing products.

The judge's ruling took into account not only search engines but also the monopoly concerns in the AI sector. Google cannot make exclusive deals for the distribution of its services, such as web search, Chrome, and AI software Gemini. However, the company can still pay other companies like Apple or Mozilla to pre-install or prominently feature its services.

For Apple, the ruling means a continuation of the billions of dollars it receives for having Google search pre-installed as the default on iPhones. Apple's stock also increased nearly three percent due to the court ruling. For Mozilla, the pre-installation of Google search in the Firefox browser is a major source of income.

The US government's demands were deemed too extreme by Judge Mehta. The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020, during Donald Trump's first term as US President, aimed to break up Google's monopoly in the search engine sector. The government's failure to achieve this has led to speculation about its next steps.

The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division leadership has stated that the next step regarding the indictment against Google is to continue reviewing the situation to consider additional remedial measures, potentially including further legal actions to restore competition. Perplexity had expressed interest in buying Chrome if courts ordered its separation, but it remains to be seen whether this will be a part of the government's future strategies.

Google has announced that it will appeal the ruling on the monopoly case, as it had to wait for the decision on the consequences first. The tech giant maintains that the ruling does not address the core issues of the case, and it will continue to fight for its position in the market.

In conclusion, while the court ruling may be seen as a victory for Google, it also paves the way for increased competition in the AI sector. The future of Google's monopoly case remains uncertain, with the US government considering its next steps and Google preparing to appeal the decision.