Alphabet shares slip in after-hours trade
The Justice Department is weighing a potential breakup of Google, among other options, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, after a federal judge this month ruled that the company's practices related to search and some ads ran afoul of anti-monopoly laws and suppressed competition.
Google declined to comment. The Justice Department, when reached, said no decisions had been made on a course of action.
"The Justice Department is evaluating the court's decision and will assess the appropriate next steps consistent with the court's direction and the applicable legal framework for antitrust remedies," a representative for the agency said over email.
Shares of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) (GOOG), Google's parent company, dipped about 1% after hours on Tuesday.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, said that if the agency tried to split up the company, the search giant's Android operating system and Chrome browser would be the likeliest segments to be separated. The DOJ is also considering ordering a sell-off of AdWords, Google's ad-sales platform, Bloomberg said.
The news outlet also said that the Justice Department would likely try to prohibit the exclusionary contracts Google that spent billions of dollars on to become the default search engine for many mobile users.
Bloomberg reported other options included "forcing Google to share more data with competitors and measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products."
Google has said it plans to appeal the court's ruling.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.