Virginia court issues Google’s second DOJ breakup reprieve in a year
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema declined Wednesday to break up Google’s digital advertising business, instead ordering the company to modify the system the government had argued should be dismantled. The Justice Department had sought the breakup.
Brinkema, sitting in Virginia, issued a two-page initial decision. The full opinion will remain under seal for 14 days so the parties can review it and propose any necessary redactions. Google did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s ruling marks the second time in a year that Google has received a reprieve from a DOJ proposal to dismantle part of its business. A different federal judge declined last September to order Google to sell its Chrome web browser after a separate court declared Google’s search engine an illegal monopoly in 2024. The Justice Department had pushed for the Chrome sale as a remedy in that case.
The Virginia court has described Google’s conduct in the digital advertising market as anti-competitive. Alphabet Inc., Google’s corporate parent, holds a market value of $4.11 trillion.