Trump 2.0 will face Big Tech antitrust test
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The Justice Department will ask a judge to require that Google divest its Chrome browser, according to Bloomberg.
Why it matters: This could be the first big test of tech antitrust policy under Trump 2.0.
- This comes three months after the judge ruled that Google violated antitrust law to maintain its search monopoly, and would be DOJ's proposed remedy.
- Google already plans to appeal, which means the case will bleed way past Jan. 20, and even the divestiture decision isn't expected until next summer.
The big picture: Presidents often start legal battles they won't be around to finish, betting on the inertia of federal bureaucracies.
On the one hand: Trump has no love lost for Google, which he threatened to sue during the campaign.
- Same goes for Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz, who's called for breaking up Big Tech companies.
On the other hand: Trump ran on a deregulatory agenda, which helped pry free a lot of donation dollars from Silicon Valley investors.
- Dealmakers have convinced themselves that the next White House will have a much lighter touch on antitrust, but forcing Google to dump Chrome could switch the signals.
- It's not exactly like blocking a new merger, but it could chill future Big Tech acquisitions.
The wildcard: The original case was actually filed during Trump's first term, although the Chrome request would come from Biden's DOJ.
- There's no particular reason to believe past is prologue here, given Trump's reversals on the TikTok ban and crypto being a "scam."
Zoom in, per Bloomberg: "Owning the world's most popular web browser is key for Google's ads business. The company is able to see activity from signed-in users, and use that data to more effectively target promotions, which generate the bulk of its revenue. Google has also been using Chrome to direct users to its flagship AI product, Gemini, which has the potential to evolve from an answer-bot to an assistant that follows users around the web."
The bottom line: Google is the world's fourth-largest company by market cap, with a market cap of nearly $2.2 trillion. It would take two presidents to break it up, but only if they both want to take the fight.
