US Seeks Forced Sale of Google Ad Technology Products

Alphabet Inc.’s Google should be forced to sell off two of its businesses that help websites buy, sell and serve online advertising after a judge found the company illegally monopolized those markets, the Justice Department said.

The company should be ordered to immediately sell off its advertising exchange, AdX, followed by a “phased” divestiture of the service that helps websites sell display advertising, known as a publisher ad server, the agency said in a court filing late Monday.

A “comprehensive set of remedies — including divestiture of Google’s unlawfully obtained monopolies and the products that were the principal instruments of Google’s illegal scheme — is necessary to terminate Google’s monopolies,” the agency said in its filing.

Google didn’t have an immediate comment on the DOJ’s proposal. In its own filing late Monday, Google proposed making its advertising exchange work seamlessly with rival technology and installing a monitor to ensure compliance for the next three years. The company said its proposal would alleviate any alleged harm and that a divestiture like the one proposed by the government isn’t available as a remedy in this type of case.

The Justice Department’s request isn’t a surprise; the agency has said since 2023 when it first sued Google for monopolization that it would seek a sale of the products.

Separately, the Justice Department is seeking to force the Alphabet unit to divest its popular Chrome web browser in another case over the company’s illegal monopolization of online search.

An ad server helps web publishers manage their advertising, acting as the brain for the website by keeping track of the minimum bids a publisher is willing to accept, what has been sold and for how much. Ad exchanges control the auctions that match website publishers with advertisers; Google operates the largest exchange.

Antitrust enforcers alleged that Google gave special access and privileges to its own ad products to encourage both advertisers and websites to spend only through its services.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, has scheduled a hearing for September to hear arguments from the Justice Department and Google on the proposed remedy. Last month, Brinkema ruled that Google violated antitrust law in the markets for advertising exchanges and tools used by websites to sell ad space, known as ad servers.

BLOOMBERG.