Alphabet Shares Dip As DOJ Seeks Sale Of Google Chrome & Other Remedies After Antitrust Win

deadline.com:

Shares of mighty Alphabet are down about 7% today after the U.S. Department of Justice said it should sell its Chrome web browser among other remedies after the tech giant lost a landmark antitrust case last summer.

Government lawyers said in a filing that splitting Google’s dominant search engine from Chrome, which controls about two-thirds of the browser market, as well as from its Android operating system, is necessary to ensure a competitive Internet.

The filing comes after U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in San Francisco ruled in August that Google had violated antitrust laws “by maintaining its monopoly” on product markets including search. “After having carefully considered the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.” The DOJ‘s filing requests what it believes are the necessary fixes.

Looking ahead, while the Department will be different under the incoming administration of Donald Trump, antitrust suits aimed at the tech industry have often been bi-partisan.