A federal judge ruled that Google used anticompetitive practices to further its monopoly on the web.
Transcript:
CONWAY GITTENS: Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Wall Street is trying to regain its footing after the biggest three-day stock market sell-off in two years. Upbeat earnings are helping to soothe concerns that the economy is tipping into a recession. Demand for Caterpillar’s costly, heavy-duty machinery remained strong last quarter leading to better-than-expected results. Uber topped forecasts as both ride-sharing and food-delivery continued to bring in revenue.
In other news – After a nearly year-long trial, Google has been found to have violated U.S. antitrust laws when it comes to its search business.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta claimed Google’s practices have allowed it to crush its competition and stifle innovation. Mehta wrote “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.”
The Justice Department argued that due to Google’s monopoly, it was able to charge advertisers artificially high prices to place ads on its platform. The DOJ also claimed ,since there were no other contenders in the space, Google didn’t have to invest in time or money to improve its search engine.
Google, however, maintains it has done nothing wrong and intends to appeal. Its President of Global Affairs pushed back on the ruling, stating “This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”
According to the ruling, Google has an 89.2% share of the market for general search services, which increases to 94.9% on mobile devices.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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