A federal judge Monday ruled that Google parent Alphabet has violated antitrust laws by engaging in unfair business tactics to dominate the internet search advertising market. The decision dealt a new blow to Google stock, already pressured on Monday by worries over a possible U.S. recession.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta handed the Department of Justice a big victory. However, a second phase of the trial must now take place, most likely this fall, to determine what remedies the federal court will order.
"After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist and has acted as one to maintain its monopoly," Mehta said in the ruling.
The Justice Department alleged that Google maintains an internet search monopoly "through exclusionary distribution agreements that steer billions of search queries to Google each day."
Google Stock: Apple Search Deal
Alphabet's payments to Apple, which makes Google the default search engine on iPhones, were under scrutiny in the antitrust lawsuit. Apple reportedly gets more than $20 billion annually in the search deal.
Further, Mehta could order that the Apple-Google search deal be scrapped or they take other steps.
Google will likely appeal any court decision.
Due to its huge cash holdings, Google stock has shrugged off three fines totaling $9.3 billion levied by the European Union on antitrust grounds.
On the stock market today, Google stock fell 4.7% to 158.70. Apple stock slipped 5.4% to near 208. With Monday's loss, Google stock is now up only 14% in 2024. Apple has gained nearly 8%.
Follow Reinhardt Krause on Twitter @reinhardtk_tech for updates on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and cloud computing.
