Google Wins Big in Landmark Antitrust Case—Chrome Stays, Stock Soars

After four years of courtroom sparring, the U.S. vs. Google antitrust case has officially wrapped—and the result is less “landmark ruling” and more “corporate shrug.” Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the company’s dominance in the browser and search markets, while undeniable, isn’t “sufficiently attributable to illegal conduct” to justify breaking up the company or forcing it to sell off Chrome. Translation: Google keeps its empire, tweaks a few contracts, and walks away with an 8% stock bump.

For anyone hoping this case would crack open the browser market or force Google to play fair with competitors, it’s a letdown. For Alphabet? It’s a validation. And for users? It’s business as usual—unless someone builds a better browser.

What Google Gets to Keep (Spoiler: Everything That Matters)

Let’s break down the ruling, because the nuance is buried under a lot of legal padding:

• No divestiture: they won’t be forced to sell Chrome, Android, or its search business. The core stack remains untouched.
• No exclusive contracts: they can’t lock down distribution deals that block competitors from preloading their own services. But it can still pay for placement.
• Incentives allowed: they can continue offering payments and perks to partners (like Apple) to preload Search, Chrome, and Gemini—just not exclusively.
• Apple’s deal survives: The company’s $20 billion/year handshake with Apple for default search placement in Safari and Siri remains intact. That’s not just a win—it’s a fortress.
• No choice screen mandate: they don’t have to offer users alternate browsers or search options on Android or Chrome. So if you were hoping for a “pick your search engine” pop-up, keep dreaming.
• Data sharing required: Google must share search index and user interaction data with “qualified competitors,” but not ad data or query-level info. So yes, crumbs—but no cookies.
• Search syndication: Google must offer search and ad syndication services to help competitors deliver “high-quality search.” Whether that’s meaningful or just PR padding remains to be seen.

In short: Google’s business model gets a few cosmetic tweaks, but the core engine keeps running full throttle.

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