The US Department of Justice is seeking the breakup and sale of one of the world's largest technology companies. The Ministry will ask the judge, who ruled in August that Google is a monopoly illegal the search market, to require measures related to artificial intelligence and the Android smartphone operating system, according to people familiar with the plans.
Antitrust officials also plan to recommend Wednesday to federal judge Amit Mehta that he impose data licensing requirements, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If Mehta accepts the proposals, the Justice Department will have the potential to reshape the online search market and the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry.
The case was filed under the first Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden. It marks the most aggressive attempt to rein in a tech company since Washington tried unsuccessfully to break up Microsoft Corp. two decades ago.
Owning the world's most popular browser is key to Google's ad business. The company can see the activity of logged-in users and uses this data to more effectively target ads, which generate most of its revenue. Google is also using Chrome to direct users to its new artificial intelligence product Gemini, which has the potential to evolve from an answer bot to an assistant that follows users around the web.
Should the sale go through, Chrome would be worth "at least $15-20 billion, given that it has over 3 billion monthly active users," Reported Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh.
The price potential buyers are willing to pay may depend on their ability to connect Chrome to other services, said Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research. "It will not be immediately possible to generate revenue, it will function as a gateway for other things."
