Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a ruling that has become landmark for the entire U.S. technology sector: the Department of Justice's demand for the forced sale of the AdX advertising exchange has been rejected. This decision effectively closes the question of forcibly breaking up Google's business, which was immediately reflected in Alphabet's stock prices — the company's shares moved upward.
The essence of the regulator's claims was that Google allegedly illegally monopolized the online advertising market by forcibly tying publishers to its own AdX exchange and charging a 20% commission on every transaction. The DOJ insisted that the only effective remedy for this monopoly would be the sale of the key asset.
However, the court reached a different conclusion. Instead of a radical dismantling of the business, Judge Brinkema ordered adjustments to Google's advertising services, in particular — ensuring competitors have broader access to auction bidding data. This is a softer option that preserves the company's integrity but obliges it to be more transparent.
Notably, this is already the third consecutive defeat for U.S. authorities in their attempts to break up IT giants. Earlier, courts allowed Google to keep the Chrome browser, and Meta (recognized as an extremist organization in Russia) to retain its key assets Instagram and WhatsApp. The trend is obvious: the U.S. judicial system is extremely skeptical of forced restructuring of technology corporations.
It is worth noting that for Alphabet, the Ad Manager advertising division is not a critical source of revenue. With the company's total market capitalization of $4.08 trillion, this service generated only 4.1% of revenue and 1.5% of operating profit in 2020. Nevertheless, the entire digital advertising ecosystem was built around it, and its loss could have had a cascading effect.
However, it is too early to relax. Google still has unresolved issues with European regulators, its positions in the field of artificial intelligence still look shaky, and Alphabet's growing AI expenses are increasingly worrying investors. The court ruling is an undeniable victory, but the battle for the company's future continues on other fronts.
My comment: This precedent strengthens the positions of large technology corporations and demonstrates that even such aggressive antitrust rhetoric does not always lead to real structural changes. For the crypto industry, this is also an important signal: regulation in the U.S., despite all its strictness, remains predictable and not inclined toward destructive decisions, which in the long term is positive for all digital assets.