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Google Faces A New Antitrust Trial After Ruling Declaring Search Engine A Monopoly

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2 months ago

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Alexandria, Virginia – One month after a judge branded Google’s search engine an illegal monopoly, the internet titan is facing another antitrust lawsuit, this time over its advertising technology, which threatens to split the firm.

The Justice Department, joined by a coalition of states, and Google each presented opening arguments Monday before a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, which will decide whether Google has a monopoly on internet advertising technology.

The regulators argue that Google created, acquired, and maintains a monopoly on the technology that connects internet publishers and advertisers. The government claims that Google’s dominance of the software on both the buy and sell sides of the transaction allows it to keep up to 36 cents per dollar when it brokers sales between publishers and advertising.

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Google Faces A New Antitrust Trial After Ruling Declaring Search Engine A Monopoly

They argue that Google also dominates the ad exchange market, which connects the purchase and sale sides.

“A single monopoly is terrible enough. But we have a trifecta of monopolies,” Justice Department lawyer Julia Tarver Wood said in her opening statement.

Google claims that the government’s case is based on an internet of the past when desktop computers prevailed and internet users meticulously typed precise World Wide Web addresses into URL fields. Advertisers are increasingly turning to social media platforms like TikTok and streaming TV services like Peacock.

In her opening comments, Google lawyer Karen Dunn compared the government’s evidence to a “time capsule with a Blackberry, an iPod, and a Blockbuster video card.”

Dunn stated that Supreme Court precedents caution judges about “the serious risk of error or unintended consequences” when dealing with quickly evolving technology and determining whether antitrust law demands involvement. She also cautioned that any action taken against Google would not benefit small businesses, but would instead allow other tech behemoths such as Amazon, Microsoft, and TikTok to fill the gap.

According to Google’s annual reports, revenue for Google Networks, the division of the Mountain View, California-based tech giant that includes services like AdSense and Google Ad Manager at the heart of the case, has decreased in recent years, from $31.7 billion in 2021 to $31.3 billion in 2023.

The case will now be handled by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who is best known for high-profile terrorism cases, notably the one involving 9/11 suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. Brinkema, on the other hand, has prior expertise with highly complex civil trials, having worked in a courthouse that handles a large number of patent infringement cases.

The Virginia case follows Google’s significant defeat over its search engine. A judge in the District of Columbia deemed the search engine a monopoly, supported in part by tens of billions of dollars. Google pays firms like Apple each year to ensure that Google is the default search engine offered to customers when they purchase iPhones and other devices.

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In December, a judge ruled that Google’s Android app store is a monopoly in a dispute brought by a private gaming company.

In the search engine case, the judge has yet to impose any remedies. The government has not proposed any fines, but there may be strict scrutiny over whether Google should be permitted to continue making exclusivity deals that ensure its search engine is the default option for customers.

According to Peter Cohan, a professor of management practice at Babson College, the Virginia case could be more devastating to Google because the obvious solution would be to require it to give off parts of its ad tech company, which generates billions of dollars in income each year.

“Divestitures are definitely a possible remedy for this second case,” according to Cohan. “It could be potentially more significant than initially meets the eye.”

Google is also under increasing pressure over its ad tech business on both sides of the Atlantic. British competition officials accused the corporation last week of abusing its control in the country’s digital ad industry by prioritizing its services. Last year, European Union antitrust authorities conducting their investigation concluded that breaking up the corporation was the only way to address competition concerns regarding its digital ad business.

The prosecution’s witnesses in the Virginia trial will include executives from newspaper publishers, whom the government claims have suffered disproportionately as a result of Google’s tactics.

“Google extracted extraordinary fees at the expense of the website publishers who make the open internet vibrant and valuable,” government lawyers stated in court documents.

The government’s first witness was Tim Wolfe, an official with Gannett Co., a newspaper company whose main publication is USA Today. According to Wolfe, Gannett believes it has little choice but to continue using Google’s ad tech tools, even though the business keeps 20 cents on the dollar from each ad transaction, not including what it charges advertisers. He stated that Gannett cannot give up access to Google’s vast network of advertising.

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Google Faces A New Antitrust Trial After Ruling Declaring Search Engine A Monopoly

During cross-examination, Wolfe admitted that, despite Google’s alleged monopoly, Gannett was able to collaborate with other competitors to offer its available inventory to advertisers.

The government’s case also seeks to leverage the remarks of Google employees against them. In their opening statements, Justice Department lawyers noted an email received by a Google employee that questioned if Google’s control of the technology on all three sides constituted “a deeper issue” to examine.

“The analogy would be if Goldman or Citibank owned the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange),” said employee Jonathan Bellack.

Google claims that integrating its technology on the buy, sell, and intermediate sides ensures that adverts and web pages load swiftly while also improving security.

Google claims that the government’s case is overly focused on display ads and banner ads that appear on web pages viewed via a desktop computer, failing to account for consumers’ shift to mobile apps and the surge in ads posted on social media sites over the last 15 years.

The government’s argument “focusses on a limited type of advertising viewed on a narrow subset of websites when user attention migrated elsewhere years ago,” Google’s lawyers argued in a court filing.

The experiment is planned to last a few weeks.

SOURCE | AP

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Trudeau Accelerates Bond Selloff Over Mass Spending Fears

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1 day ago

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2024-11-23

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Trudeau, Bond Market
Trudeau accelerated a bond selloff due to expectations of faster growth and a deeper deficit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accelerated bond selloffs, citing fears of a larger deficit over his GST giveaway. Investors were concerned he was returning to his free-spending strategy as an election loom.

On Thursday, Trudeau unveiled a C$6.3 billion ($4.5 billion) tax relief and rebate program. It includes a two-month moratorium on federal sales tax on various commodities such as Christmas trees, wine, toys, and books and a C$250 check for almost 19 million Canadians, or over half of the population.

The declaration looked to mark the end of a brief period of fiscal restraint, as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland committed to contain budget deficits to prevent stoking inflationary pressures.

Now that inflation has returned to the Bank of Canada’s 2% target, policymakers have reduced the benchmark interest rate by 125 basis points since June.

Trudeau’s Liberal government sees an opportunity to dig deeper into the public purse, but some analysts believe investors are keeping a careful eye on the country’s debt.

Bonds continued to fall on Thursday following the announcement, as the 10-year benchmark yield rose 7 basis points to 3.457%. After retail data showed a rise in consumer spending on Friday, it increased by up to 3.488%.

As the Trudeau government considers additional fiscal spending, concerns about Canada’s financial situation persist.

Budget Shortfall

Freeland has yet to publish final spending and income figures for the fiscal year that ended in October. Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux predicts a deficit of C$46.8 billion, much exceeding Freeland’s self-imposed aim of a C$40 billion shortfall.

Despite promises to reduce deficits, the Trudeau government continues to increase expenditure. This year’s budget includes a new capital gains tax inclusion rate to balance the cost of new housing and social initiatives.

This sparked anger from investors and entrepreneurs but allowed Freeland to present a consistent deficit despite significant spending.

The recent declaration indicates that Trudeau’s government no longer feels restrained in its capacity to use economic stimulus to restore favor.

Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have led most surveys by roughly 20 points for over a year. They have pounded the prime minister on affordability and promised to reduce taxes, especially income taxes. An election is expected in late October 2025.

The sales tax break will run from December 14 to February 15. The left-wing New Democratic Party intends to support it but has stated that it will continue to advocate for its permanent implementation and expansion to include additional items.

Let the Bankers Worry

Following Trudeau’s announcement, traders in overnight swap markets reduced their bets that the Bank of Canada will drop interest rates by 50 basis points for the second time in December, lowering the odds to fewer than 25% by the end of Thursday. As of late Friday morning, the odds were less than 17%.

The announcement also encouraged several experts to improve their short-term projections for Canada’s GDP. Analysts at the Bank of Montreal predict that the country’s GDP will increase at a 2.5% annualized rate in the first three months of 2025, up from 1.7%.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trudeau praised his government’s approach to program expenditure, claiming it fosters optimism and possibilities for families and the middle class.

“We’re focusing on Canadians. “Let the bankers worry about the economy,” Trudeau stated.

Related:

Canada’s Budgetary Watchdog Warns Over Trudeau’s Spending

Canada’s Budgetary Watchdog Warns Over Trudeau’s Spending

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Forced Sale Google Chrome Could Fetch $20 Billion

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2 days ago

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2024-11-21

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Sale Google Chrome

Antitrust officials in the US could force the sale of Google’s Chrome browser for up to $20 billion, demonstrating the tremendous worth of the world’s most popular web browser.

Bloomberg Intelligence attributes Chrome’s projected worth to its more than 3 billion monthly active users. The US Department of Justice is preparing to request a federal judge order the browser’s separation from Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

Chrome’s worth comes from its overwhelming 61% market share and its crucial role in Google’s advertising ecosystem. User data enables businesses to better target adverts, and the browser also acts as an important distribution mechanism for Google’s AI technologies.

Industry analysts think it may be difficult to find a suitable buyer. While tech behemoths like Amazon could finance the purchase, they would likely face regulatory scrutiny.

AI businesses, such as OpenAI, may emerge as more viable contenders. They could potentially leverage Chrome to broaden their reach and develop an advertising business.

“It’s not directly monetizable,” one analyst told Bloomberg. “It functions as a gateway to other things. It’s unclear how you would assess that in terms of pure revenue generation.”

Google opposes prospective sales, claiming that they will hamper innovation. The firm does not break out Chrome’s revenue individually in its financial filings, even though the browser’s user data plays an important part in the company’s principal revenue stream, advertising.

The DOJ’s suggestion follows Judge Amit Mehta’s August decision that Google had illegally monopolized the search industry. The judge will consider the recommended remedies at a two-week hearing in April 2024, with a final judgment due in August 2025.

Related News:

Appeals Court Delays Order For Google To Open Its App Store In Antitrust Case

Appeals Court Delays Order For Google To Open Its App Store In Antitrust Case

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Bitcoin Has Set a New Record And Is Approaching $100,000.

Published

3 days ago

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2024-11-21

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Bitcoin

(VOR News) – Bitcoin broke beyond the $98,000 mark for the first time on Thursday as investors awaited Donald Trump’s second term as president. All of this happened during the day. As such, cryptocurrency has reached a significant turning point.

According to Coin Metrics, the top cryptocurrency was trading at $97,541.61 during the most recent trading session. Merchants provided this information. This suggests a price gain of more than three percent during the previous trading session.

When the period began, Bitcoin peaked at $98,367.00.

During the premarket trading session, MicroStrategy, a platform that facilitates cryptocurrency foreign exchange trading and serves as a bitcoin proxy, saw a 13% gain. Coinbase, on the other hand, had a 2% rise during that period. Furthermore, all of these increases occurred simultaneously.

The market value of Mara Holdings increased by 9%, which helped raise the valuation of mining companies overall. This was among the factors that led to the total rise.

Because of the widespread belief that President Trump will usher in a new era of prosperity for cryptocurrencies, one marked by more favorable laws and the possible creation of a national strategic bitcoin reserve, the price of Bitcoin has been rising steadily this month.

The most recent change brought about by the increase was the consequence of higher financing rates and more open interest in the futures market during Asian trading hours. The rise was the catalyst for this change. This action was prompted by the ensuing rush.

Throughout its lifespan, this legislation was the catalyst for this change for a variety of reasons. At the same time, spot market premiums decreased, according to CryptoQuant statistics. All of this happened at the same time.

Furthermore, a number of short liquidations have been sparked by the recent spikes in Bitcoin’s price, which has caused the price to rise overnight. As a result, the price has gone up much more. As a result, the total number of short liquidations has increased.

According to CoinGlass, these liquidations have effectively produced more than $88 million in capital during the last 24 hours.

Rob Ginsberg, an analyst at Wolfe Research, noted in a study released on Wednesday that “historically, following previous movements of this magnitude, Bitcoin has either entered a consolidation phase or disregarded the overbought condition as investors accumulate.” This phrase relates to the fact that this particular move has happened before.

Ginsberg stated this in reference to the evolution of Bitcoin over time.

Ginsberg’s answer makes reference to Bitcoin’s propensity to go through a period of consolidation. The comment also made reference to this.

He said, “Considering we are emerging from an extended consolidation phase and the price has reached a new high, it suggests that the pursuit is underway.”

The crucial psychological milestone of $100,000 is expected to be reached in the upcoming weeks, and this breakthrough could happen as early as Thursday. It seems likely that this level will be reached. There is a chance that this new development will take place.

This task will be carried out against the backdrop of this historical era. In addition, if Trump were to win a second term, federal budget deficits would increase, inflation would likely increase, and the dollar’s position in international affairs would change.

The administration that Trump would run during his presidency would be responsible for these consequences. All of these characteristics would positively impact the value of Bitcoin as a currency if they were taken into account in the order that they are presented.

The price of bitcoin had risen by more than 130% by the beginning of 2024.

SOUREC: CNBC

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