DOJ seeks forced breakup of Google digital ad businesses to ‘terminate’ monopolies

Google should be forced to sell off two separate digital advertising businesses, the Justice Department argued in a court filing after a federal judge ruled last month that the Big Tech giant operates an illegal monopoly over the technology.

The feds said Google should be required “as soon as possible” to sell Ad Exchange, or AdX, its in-house ad marketplace that connects advertisers to publishers, according to a filing late Monday in Virginia federal court.

Google, led by CEO Sundar Pichai, should also be ordered to conduct a “phased divestiture” of its DFP publisher ad server, which is used by websites to store and manage their digital ad inventory, the DOJ argued.

The process should be supervised by a court-appointed official and allow the DOJ to approve or reject potential buyers

“This comprehensive set of remedies…is necessary to terminate Google’s monopolies, deny Google the fruits of its violations, reintroduce competition into the ad exchange and publisher ad server markets, and guard against reoccurrence in the future,” the filing said.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has set a Sept. 22 trial date to consider remedies after ruling last month that Google’s two separate adtech monopolies have “substantially harmed” customers.

The detailed proposal came after DOJ attorneys signaled during a hearing last week that they would ask Brinkema to order a breakup.

At the time, federal attorney Julia Tarver Wood said a forced sale would likely take several years to complete.

The DOJ also said that Google should be required to open up its other ad products to work with third-party tools “on non-discriminatory terms with respect to bidding, matching, placement of ads, or provision of information, except at the express instruction of an advertize.”

The judge will have final say over what steps Google must implement to address its illegal conduct.

Any breakup could wreak havoc on the most lucrative part of Google’s business. Its parent company Alphabet generated about $350 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024, a huge chunk of which came from digital advertising.

Google has already vowed to appeal the case and argued in a court filing of its own that the DOJ’s remedies were too extreme. Company attorneys claim that a forced sale may not even be allowed under the law.

“The DOJ is seeking remedies that go significantly beyond the Court’s narrow ruling by forcing a divestiture of Google Ad Manager,” Google vice president of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a blog post.

“This would risk breaking a tool advertisers use to connect with publishers and efficiently reach their customers, and that app and video publishers use to monetize their content,” Mulholland added.

Google has expressed support for behavioral remedies, such as sharing relevant ad data with rivals.

Pichai’s company also faces a potential divestiture in another DOJ case after US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly over online search.

In a separate remedies trial that is currently underway, the DOJ has asked Mehta to force Google to sell off its Chrome web browser and share data with rivals. Mehta is expected to make a final decision in that case by August.