The U.S. Justice Department is weighing a potential breakup of Alphabet Inc.’s Google following a historic court ruling that found the company had monopolized the online search market. This would mark Washington’s first major attempt to dismantle a company for monopolistic practices since the failed breakup of Microsoft two decades ago.
Potential Remedies and Alternatives
In addition to the breakup, less drastic measures are being considered. These include requiring Google to share user data with competitors or preventing it from dominating the AI market, according to insiders. Alphabet shares dropped 3.8% following the news.
Divestiture and the Android Operating System
A forced divestment could target the Android operating system, which runs on over 2.5 billion devices worldwide, as well as Google’s web browser Chrome. Another possibility is selling AdWords, Google’s dominant text advertising platform.
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