Google Chrome sale? Department of Justice proposes forced sale of browser

Bloomberg reported that the US Department of Justice intends to force Google to sell Chrome, which could fetch up to $20 billion.

Corrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated to reflect that the US Department of Justice is reportedly seeking to force the sale of Google Chrome.

The US Department of Justice intends to achieve the sale Google Chromewhich could bring in up to $20 billion if a federal judge agrees to selling the browser. Bloomberg This is reportedly a potentially huge blow to the world’s second-largest technology company.

The fate of the Chrome browser owned by Alphabet Inc., its parent holding company Googleis in the hands of U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled in August that Google was illegally monopolizing the search market, according to a memo obtained by USA TODAY.

Alphabet Inc. paid a total of $26 billion in 2021 to make Chrome the default option on smartphones, and web browsers were blocking other competitors from succeeding in the same market, Mehta ruled, according to Bloomberg Newswhich quotes people familiar with the plans.

“Google’s dominance has remained unchallenged for over a decade,” Mehta said in the memo. “Google’s distribution agreements disqualify a significant portion of the overall search services market and limit competitors’ ability to compete.”

USA TODAY reached out to Google’s lawyers and the Justice Department on Wednesday but did not receive an immediate response.

States join antitrust lawsuit against Google

The Justice Department asked Mehta to set requirements for Google’s artificial intelligence and Android smartphone operating system. Bloomberg This was reported with reference to “people familiar with the plans.”

Antitrust and state officials who joined the lawsuit brought by the original Colorado plaintiff plan on Wednesday to recommend that Mehta enforce data licensing requirements, Bloomberg reported, again citing the people, who asked not to be identified.

States joining the suit include Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Texas, South Carolina, Montana, Florida, Mississippi, Wisconsin, California, Michigan, Arkansas, Washington, Florida, Louisiana and Kentucky, court records show.

The next hearing in the case is Nov. 26, D.C. court records show.

What will the sale of Google Chrome mean?

The sale of Google Chrome will impact the company’s advertising business. Currently, the market capitalization of Alphabet Inc. exceeds $2 trillion, and “much of this value is driven by Google’s extremely profitable advertising business,” according to Mehta’s memo.

Chrome is the most used browser in the US, with 61% of the market, according to web traffic analytics company StatCounter. Google search is over 88% of the search engine market in the US, the firm said.

Google has also used Chrome to direct people to Twinsthe company’s flagship AI product, which can transform from a responding bot into an assistant that monitors users online, Bloomberg reports.

“The integration of generative artificial intelligence is perhaps the clearest example of how competition improves search quality,” Mehta said in the memo.

If the sale goes through, Chrome would be worth “at least $15 billion to $20 billion, given that it has more than 3 billion monthly active users,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh.

“It’s not directly monetizable,” Bob O’Donnell of TECHna Research told Bloomberg about Chrome. “It serves as a gateway to other things. It’s not clear how you measure that in terms of net revenue generation.”

Google: DOJ pushes ‘radical agenda’

LeeAnne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, told USA TODAY in a statement Wednesday that the Justice Department “continues to advance a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.”

“The government raising the scales in this way will harm consumers, developers and American technology leadership at a time when it is needed most,” Mulholland said.

During the election of the President Donald Trump In his first term, he led the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google in 2020 after it found the company used illegal tactics and strategies to monopolize search engines. It is unclear whether Trump will continue to support the Justice Department’s efforts against Google.