Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) antitrust lawsuit nears conclusion, aims to avoid breaking up advertising business.

As the Antitrust lawsuit from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the United States comes to a close, Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) under Alphabet will make its final defense in the US court on Friday in an attempt to avoid the breakup of its advertising technology business. Previously, Alphabet Inc. Class C was largely unaffected by the legal actions taken by the bipartisan government against the monopoly position of large technology companies (which began during the first term of US President Donald Trump). However, this situation may change, depending on the ruling of Judge Leonie Brinkema of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge Brinkema ruled in April that Alphabet Inc. Class C holds two illegal monopolies in the field of advertising technology and is currently considering what measures to require the company to take to restore market competition. The DOJ and a coalition of states have asked the judge to require Alphabet Inc. Class C to sell its advertising exchange platform AdX - online publishers must pay Alphabet Inc. Class C a 20% fee to use the platform for real-time advertising auctions when users are loading websites. In the 11-day trial that started in September, DOJ lawyers tried to prove to Judge Brinkema that only by forcing the sale of AdX can Alphabet Inc. Class C be prevented from introducing new strategies that hinder competition. Alphabet Inc. Class C argued that splitting the advertising technology business would pose significant technical challenges and lead to a long and difficult transition process that ultimately harms consumers. Friday's final arguments mark the end of the evidentiary hearing phase of the lengthy litigation between Alphabet Inc. Class C and the Department of Justice, with the core dispute revolving around Alphabet Inc. Class C's monopoly position in online advertising and search. Next, the litigation will enter the appellate court trial phase, which could take several years. Alphabet Inc. Class C has stated that it will appeal the monopoly ruling made by Judge Brinkema. In addition, the company plans to challenge a previous ruling by a judge in Washington DC, which found that Alphabet Inc. Class C engaged in illegal monopolistic behavior in the online search and related advertising sectors. In that case, while Alphabet Inc. Class C avoided the forced sale of the Chrome browser, it was ordered to share data with competitors. Currently, Antitrust lawsuits against Meta Platforms (META.US), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US), and Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) are still ongoing.