Google (GOOG, Financial) is making a big push to stop a potential breakup as it faces mounting antitrust pressure from the Justice Department. In a series of closed-door meetings, company execs urged regulators to ease up on the aggressive remedies proposed under the Biden administration, which could force Google to sell Chrome and unwind billion-dollar search deals with Apple. Their argument? Breaking up the company would hurt national security and weaken U.S. dominance in global tech—an approach that seems to resonate with the Trump administration's more protective stance on American firms.
With a federal judge already ruling that Google monopolized search and search advertising, the case has now entered the high-stakes “remedy” phase. The DOJ is weighing major restrictions on Google's AI investments, including its stake in Anthropic, while key industry figures—Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft employees, and OpenAI executives—are being deposed ahead of April hearings. A final ruling is expected in August, but the battle over how far regulators will go is still playing out behind closed doors.
This is the biggest antitrust showdown since Microsoft's fight with the DOJ two decades ago, and investors are watching closely. If the DOJ follows through with a hardline breakup, it could fundamentally reshape Google's business. But with Trump in office, there's a growing chance regulators will take a softer approach, opting for fines or behavioral changes instead. Whatever happens, the stakes are massive—for Google, for the broader tech sector, and for investors looking to gauge just how aggressive Washington is willing to get.
