Google won't be forced to sell its ad exchange following antitrust ruling
A judge previously determined that Google illegally monopolized a pair of ad tech markets.
Google can hang onto its AdX ad exchange but it will have to make some changes to the business, per a federal judge's ruling. The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked Judge Leonie Brinkema to force the company to sell AdX after she ruled last year that Google broke the law to monopolize two ad tech markets. Brinkema rejected that request in a ruling on Wednesday.
The judge did accept undisclosed "behavioral remedies" that the parties offered. According to Bloomberg, that involves Google having to open up its ad tech tools to rivals. Brinkema's decision was issued under seal to allow the parties time to review it and request any necessary reactions.
"We're very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ's proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow," Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
Publishers use AdX to sell unused ad space to advertisers in real time, right as a user loads a web page. They pay Google a 20 percent fee to do so.
The DOJ and eight states sued Google in 2023, claiming the company used its monopoly position to charge higher fees and facilitate a higher proportion of ad sales. The government asserted that Google held an 87 percent share of the ad-sales tech market. Brinkema ruled in April last year that Google violated antitrust law by forcing publishers that host ads on the company's servers to use AdX.
Google has faced scrutiny elsewhere over AdX and other ad-sales tools. Last September, the European Union's executive arm fined it $3.5 billion after determining it gave its ad tech products preferential treatment. That same month, a district judge ruled that Google would not have to sell Chrome after previously determining the company held a monopoly in online search.