What is happening to the Google's stock price? DOJ and Google Chrome lawsuit

The value of Alphabet Inc. shares dipped on Thursday as the US Department of Justice pushed for major concessions from technology giant Google.

The DOJ has called for Google to sell its Chrome web browser in a filing designed to divorce the dominant Google search engine from Chrome. Chrome is also thought to represent around two-thirds of the internet browser market.

Google, and its associated products, are owned by the holding company Alphabet, ranked as one of the Big Five American information technology companies. Over the summer a District Court Judge in San Francisco ruled that Google had violated antitrust rules by “maintaining its monopoly” on certain product markets.

“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,” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote back in August. “It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”

What next for Google after antitrust lawsuit?

Today’s demand from the Department of Justice is a major step in curbing the power of Google. The DOJ is looking to redefine how the tech giant does business and it looks like this effort will continue into the upcoming Trump administration.

The DOJ first filed the antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020, during Donald Trump’s first stint in the White House. That the move continued into the Biden presidency shows that there is a considerable bi-partisan sentiment on the issue, as there often is with tech industry antitrust efforts.

The DOJ has said of Google’s next steps: "The remedy must enable and encourage the development of an unfettered search ecosystem that induces entry, competition and innovation as rivals vie to win the business of consumers and advertisers."

Google is certain to push back against the demands. On Thursday Kent Walker, Google president of global affairs, said that the DOJ submitted a “wildly overbroad proposal” that threatened to “harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.”

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