Court spares Google from forced divestiture of ad platform

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that Google does not have to sell its online advertising exchange, AdX, rejecting a key demand from the US Department of Justice. The court accepted most proposed behavioral remedies to address Google's anticompetitive conduct. The decision marks another setback for antitrust enforcers seeking to break up the tech giant.

The ruling centers on AdX, Google's ad exchange where publishers pay a 20% fee for instant auction sales. Judge Brinkema accepted most behavioral remedies proposed by the parties rather than ordering a sale. The DOJ had argued Google couldn't be trusted to operate AdX fairly, while Google claimed a forced sale would be technically complex and disruptive to customers.

This marks the third consecutive rejection of breakup demands against major tech firms. Earlier, the FTC failed to force Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, and another judge declined to make Google sell Chrome, citing AI competition. Ad Manager represented roughly 4.1% of Google's revenue in 2020, suggesting modest financial stakes relative to the case's symbolic weight.