"Tech giant" Google is mired in antitrust troubles, and the U.S. Department of Justice will urge the sale of Chrome

According to Zhitong Finance APP, senior officials from the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division have decided to request a judge to compel the American "tech giant" Google (GOOGL.US) to sell its Chrome browser business, which is crucial to its profits. This would be a historic blow against one of the world's largest tech companies and suggests that Google is increasingly mired in antitrust issues, with the "breakup moment" seeming closer than ever.

Regarding the upcoming "Trump 2.0 era," analysts generally believe that Google may be the only one of the "seven tech giants" in the U.S. targeted by the Trump administration. Supporters of Trump, including incoming Vice President JD Vance, have repeatedly emphasized the company's bias against conservatives, and Trump himself supported breaking up the giant during his first term.

Media reports citing informed sources indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice will ask a judge to push Google to take measures related to artificial intelligence and its Android smartphone operating system. The judge had ruled in August that Google illegally monopolized the search engine market. According to insiders, antitrust officials and states involved in the case also plan to suggest to Federal Judge Amit Mehta on Wednesday to enforce data licensing requirements.

If Mehta accepts these proposals, they could reshape the online search market and the burgeoning AI industry. The case was initiated during the Trump administration and continues under President Biden's term. This marks the most severe antitrust action taken by the U.S. government against another tech giant since Washington's unsuccessful attempt to break up Microsoft 20 years ago.

Owning the world's most popular web browsing platform, Chrome, is crucial for Google's core business—advertising. The company can monitor the activities of logged-in users and use this data to more effectively target promotional campaigns, which generate most of its revenue. Google has also been using Chrome to guide users to its flagship generative AI product, Gemini, which has the potential to evolve from a Q&A AI chatbot into a personal AI assistant that follows users online.

Li-Anne Muhlhan, Google's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, stated that the U.S. Department of Justice "continues to push a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues of this case." She added, "The U.S. government's intervention in this manner will harm consumers, developers, and America's technological leadership, especially when it is most needed."

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.

In the wake of this negative news, Google's stock price fell by 1.8% in after-hours trading, reaching $172.16. As of Monday's market close, Google's stock price had risen by 25% this year.

Chrome Access

According to informed sources, U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies hope the judge will order Google to sell the Chrome browser, which is also the most widely used browser globally, as it represents the most critical access point for many users to its exclusive search engine.

Insiders indicated that if other aspects of the antitrust remedies against Google create a more competitive market, the U.S. government could choose to decide later whether to require the sale of the Chrome business According to statistics from the web traffic analysis service company StatCounter, the market share of the Chrome browser in the United States has reached 61%.

In the past three months, government lawyers have met with dozens of companies to prepare relevant proposals. According to informed sources, the states involved in the Google antitrust case are still considering adding some proposals, and some details may change.

Informed sources indicated that antitrust officials recently abandoned a more severe option, which was to force Google to sell its Android smartphone system.

Google Plans to Appeal

Judge Mehta ruled in August that Google violated U.S. antitrust laws in the online search and "search text advertising" markets. Previously, Google underwent a 10-week trial. Google has repeatedly stated its intention to appeal.

U.S. Judge Mehta has scheduled a two-week hearing around April to determine what changes Google must make to correct or remedy its illegal antitrust behavior, and plans to issue a final ruling by August 2025, which means Google has ample time to coordinate remedial measures.

Informed sources stated that the agency and state governments have decided to recommend requiring Google to authorize the results and data of its globally popular search engine and provide websites with more freedom of options to prevent their content from being exclusively used by Google's AI products.

Informed sources indicated that antitrust enforcement agencies are also preparing to propose that Google separate its Android smartphone operating system from other products under Google (including the search engine and Google Play mobile app store), which are currently presented in a bundled sales model. They are also preparing to require Google to share more information with advertisers and give them greater control over the placement of ads.

In a preliminary document submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys general in October, all these options were listed, along with a prohibition on signing exclusive contracts, which is at the core of the Google case.

If Google were to undergo a forced breakup due to the antitrust case, it would also depend on whether large buyers interested in the deal could be found. Companies capable of and potentially wanting this search wealth, such as Amazon and Microsoft, are also facing some antitrust scrutiny that could hinder similar large acquisition deals.

Bloomberg Intelligence's well-known analyst Mandip Singh stated in an email, "I think the likelihood of giants initiating acquisitions is extremely low." However, he added that he could see relatively smaller buyers like OpenAI, the developer of the AI chatbot ChatGPT. "This would allow them to gain a larger distribution channel and engage in advertising business to fully complement their consumer-facing AI chatbot subscription service."

AI Overviews

Google now displays the most suitable search answers quickly derived from AI large models at the top of the search page, marked as "AI Overviews." While major websites can choose not to allow Google to use their information to create AI large models, they cannot afford the cost of not providing overview information, as this could lower their ranking and coverage in search results, making it more difficult to attract commercial clients Many website publishers have complained that this feature significantly reduces traffic and advertising revenue, as AI Overviews provide search engine users with direct answers, leading them to choose not to click to view the data supporting these results.

According to informed sources, in terms of data licensing, antitrust enforcers plan to propose two most likely options: Google selling its underlying exclusive "click and query" data and separately selling its compiled annotated lists of joint search results.

The company currently sells joint search results, but there are some restrictions, such as prohibiting use on mobile devices like smartphones. If Google is forced to combine its search results, then competing search engines and AI startups could quickly improve the quality of their search results or the content generation quality of their AI chatbots, while the data sources would enable other companies to build their own customized search engines