Alphabet, Google’s parent company, won a major reprieve in its landmark U.S. antitrust case. On Sept 2, Judge Amit Mehta ruled against breaking up Google, allowing it to retain control of Android and Chrome reuters.com. The decision lifted a huge cloud of uncertainty: Alphabet stock rocketed over 9% in one day, adding about $210 billion in value reuters.com. The ruling permits Google to keep paying partners like Apple to make Google the default search, though it bans some exclusive deals reuters.com. Analysts cheered the “pragmatic” remedy. “This outcome removes a significant legal overhang and signals the court is favoring pragmatic remedies rather than scorched-earth tactics,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Matt Britzman reuters.com. Another expert noted relief that lucrative Apple search payments can continue reuters.com. The judge pointed to rising AI chatbots like ChatGPT as emerging competition – a factor in deciding against a breakup reuters.com. Google still faces data-sharing mandates to help rivals, but its core search empire remains intact reuters.com. For Google, which was sued in 2020 for abusing its search monopoly, this was a huge win – and markets responded in kind reuters.com.
