Justice Dept. considers push to break up Google: Bloomberg

The Justice Dept. is reportedly weighing pursuing a breakup of Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) following the department’s victory in a landmark antitrust case against the search giant.

That’s among the penalty options the DOJ is considering, Bloomberg reported — and it would mark the first attempt to break up a monopoly company since failed attempts to split up Microsoft (MSFT) in a 2001 case.

The government is certain to look to ban the exclusive search-engine contracts at the heart of its case against Google, though instead of trying to break up the company, it could settle for behavioral remedies, including forcing the company to share more data with rivals, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the discussions.

And if a breakup is the chosen course, the DOJ is most likely to look to split off the Android mobile operating system and Google’s Chrome Web browser, according to the report.

Shares in Google parent Alphabet were down after hours following the report: (GOOG) -1.3%, (GOOGL) -0.5%.