Alphabet stock jumped over 7% on Tuesday after a judge ruled that Google can keep Chrome and Android but must share data with rivals, a decision reshaping competition and boosting Apple, too.
This decision will allow Apple to continue collecting billions from Google for search defaults and strengthen Apple’s bottom line, which Morgan Stanley analysts estimate is worth about $20 billion annually. Apple rose 3% after the news.
It also preserves Google's role as the default search engine on iPhones, meaning users will not notice much change, but also keeps rivals like DuckDuckGo or Bing at a disadvantage.
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Smaller search startups lose out on exposure, limiting choices for users seeking stronger privacy protections or fresh innovations. Rivals like DuckDuckGo, which market themselves as privacy-first search engines, will be locked out, leaving consumers at a loss for easy access to different privacy models.
Judge Amit Mehta, who previously ruled that Google holds an illegal monopoly on search and related advertising, took a measured approach to remedies. Mehta ordered Google to share key search and advertising data with competitors, which could fuel artificial intelligence startups and alternative search engines.
"Here the court is asked to gaze into a crystal ball and look to the future. Not exactly a judge’s forte," Mehta wrote, pointing to AI challengers such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT as already shifting the competitive landscape.
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Google has stated it plans to appeal the decision, but the lengthy process could take years before it will be required to act on the ruling.
"Judge Mehta is aware that the Supreme Court is the likely final destination for the case, and he has chosen remedies that stand a good chance of acceptance by the Court," said William Kovacic, director of the competition law center at George Washington University.
This case is the biggest U.S. tech antitrust fight since Microsoft in the 1990s and will likely head to the Supreme Court. Google still faces separate challenges with its app store and ad business.
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Google is in regulatory fights, which include a court-ordered revamp of its app store following a lawsuit by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games and a separate Justice Department case over its advertising technology monopoly.
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