Google’s Breakup More Likely After Second Antitrust Loss

A court in Virginia ruled that Google violated antitrust law by “wilfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” for the sale of ads on independent websites across the internet. In tandem with the ruling in August that Google has an illegal monopoly in search, the decision increases the likelihood that Google will be drastically reshaped by court decrees in the next year or two.

Google will likely be forced, as a result of today’s decision, to dismantle much of its ad tech business which dominates both how advertisers buy ads on independent websites, and how web publishers sell their ad space. The government claimed in the case that Google used its power on both sides of the market to raise prices and squeeze out rivals.