The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly considering forcing parent company Alphabet to shed not less than one among its units. Among the probabilities being explored following a judge’s ruling that Google violated antitrust laws, in accordance with Bloomberg:
- Chrome, Google’s web browser. This one seems highly unlikely – web browsers aren’t exactly a lucrative business model.
- Android, Google’s operating system.
- Google Ads, the money-printing machine that generates billions of search and promoting dollars every quarter. (Although Bloomberg called it “AdWords.” They clearly didn’t get the memo that AdWords ceased to exist in 2018).
Why we care. While a complete breakup of Alphabet’s Google seems unlikely (Microsoft ultimately avoided a similar fate nearly 25 years ago despite a similar antitrust ruling), nothing is not possible. If Google is broken up, it should undoubtedly have a big impact on digital marketing. The big query for marketers can be how much it should impact web optimization and ad strategies, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Other options. The U.S. can also be considering some “less severe options”:
- Prohibiting Google from forging default search agreements, just like the $19 billion it paid Apple.
- Forcing Google to share more data with competitors.
- Somehow limiting Google from gaining an “unfair advantage in AI products.”
What about YouTube? One Alphabet unit not mentioned within the report was YouTube. This seems a bit surprising considering the video-sharing platform brought in $31.51 billion in promoting in 2023.
Dig deeper: What the Google antitrust ruling could mean for advertisers
The post Report: U.S. considering forcing a Google breakup appeared first on MarTech.
Read the total article here
