Judge rules Google does not have to break up ad tech business

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Google does not have to break up its advertising technology business after finding last year that the search giant held an illegal monopoly over the industry.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to force Google to sell off its AdX exchange business, which connects publishers selling ad space online to advertisers.

She also declined to require the company to open-source the technology behind DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), its publisher-side platform, or potentially divest the business.

Brinkema accepted “most of the parties’ proposed behavioral remedies, as modified by this Court.” However, the specifics remain under seal in the judge’s opinion.

“We’re very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ’s proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a statement.

A DOJ spokesperson said in a statement that the antitrust division is “pleased that the court ordered substantial relief” in the case.

“We are one step closer to restoring competition and bringing relief for the American people in online advertising markets,” they added. “The Department is evaluating appropriate next steps.”

The Justice Department sued Google in 2023, accusing the company of monopolizing the industry by acquiring other businesses and tying its products together.

After a two-week trial, Brinkema ruled largely in the government’s favor, finding the tech giant had “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power” over the publisher and ad exchange markets.

It marked a second major antitrust loss for Google, after a separate judge ruled in August 2024 that the company had an illegal monopoly over online search.

Despite a push by the DOJ to split off its Chrome browser, Google was ultimately not forced to break up its search business.