NordenBladet – U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia has ruled that tech giant Google (GOOG, GOOGL) will not be required to sell its Chrome web browser in an antitrust case related to anti-competitive conduct. However, the company is obliged to share data that has helped it maintain a dominant position in the search engine market.

The decision, considered a landmark in antitrust law, led to a nearly 6% rise in Google’s stock during premarket trading. Meanwhile, Apple’s shares rose by almost 3%, as Google is allowed to continue its estimated $20 billion annual payments to Apple for keeping Google Search as the default engine in the Safari browser and Siri assistant.

Content of the Ruling

Judge Mehta found that the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to force Google to divest its search business or to terminate major contracts that have strongly contributed to its market dominance was not justified. According to the judge, it was not proven that eliminating anti-competitive practices would be ineffective without the immediate sale of Chrome.

The court emphasized the need to distinguish between maintaining a monopoly through unlawful behavior and achieving market leadership through offering a superior product. “After two full trials, this court cannot conclude that Google’s market dominance is sufficiently attributable to illegal conduct to justify such far-reaching structural relief as the forced sale of Chrome,” the judge stated.

The court also rejected the Department of Justice’s request concerning a potential future divestiture of the Android operating system. Judge Mehta noted that the government did not present sufficient evidence to support this remedy.

New Restrictions for Google

Although Google retains the right to keep Chrome and Android and to continue making payments to distribution partners, the company must implement several changes to its business practices:

  • It is prohibited from entering into exclusive agreements involving the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or Gemini;

  • Google may not condition the licensing of the Play Store or other apps on the pre-installation of additional Google services;

  • Revenue-sharing payments may not be tied to the presence of other Google apps on a device.

Judge Mehta also referred to the rise of generative AI in his decision, noting that its development could strengthen competition in the search market—thus, there is currently no justification for a disruptive intervention in the system.

About Google

Google is a technology company based in the United States, best known for its internet search engine. It was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University. The original idea was to create a system that ranked web pages based on relevance rather than just keyword frequency. The initial project was called “Backrub” but was later renamed “Google,” derived from the word “googol,” meaning the number 10 to the power of 100. Google grew rapidly and has become one of the world’s largest technology companies, now operating under the umbrella of Alphabet Inc. In addition to its search engine, Google offers a wide range of services, including YouTube, the Android operating system, Google Maps, and Gmail.