Google loses antitrust suit over search payments

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) lost its antitrust suit over search, marking a key win for the Justice Dept. in the first big tech anticompetitive standoff in decades.

U.S. District Court Amit Mehta found Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act “by maintaining its monopoly in two product markets in the United States—general search services and general text advertising—through its exclusive distribution agreements.”

Google’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) $26B in revenue share payments — “nearly four times more than all of Google’s other search-specific costs combined” — gave Google default placement of its search engine at partners’ key search access points and “its partners also agree not to preload any other general search engine on the device,” Mehta noted in his ruling.

That effectively blocked search competitors from succeeding in the market, he concluded.

With an hour left in Monday’s trading session, Alphabet stock deepened an already stiff slide amid the broader market tumble: (GOOG) -4.1%, (GOOGL) -4.2%.