Google vs. DOJ: Second antitrust showdown to begin, this time over advertising

The Department of Justice’s second antitrust trial against Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google will begin on Monday in Virginia, where the search giant will defend itself against claims that it illegally operates a monopoly in the advertising market.

The trial comes a little over a month after a landmark court ruling on Google’s monopoly in the search market, although the penalties are yet to be announced.

The latest trial, which is expected to last several weeks, involves the DOJ’s allegations that Google’s advertising business is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

“Over the past 15 years, Google has engaged in anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct that consisted of neutralizing or eliminating ad tech competitors through acquisitions; wielding its dominance across digital ad markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products; and thwarting the ability to use competing products,” according to the DOJ’s lawsuit.

California, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia have also joined the DOJ’s case.

The DOJ seeks the divestiture of the Google Ad Manager, an ad management platform for large publishers that supports multiple ad exchanges and networks. This is different from the flagship platform Google Ads, through which advertisers buy ad space on Google’s search and display networks.

If the DOJ wins the case, Google may be subject to litigation from advertisers, with Bernstein analysts projecting lawsuits of up to $100B.

Alphabet (GOOG) reported second-quarter ad revenue of $64.62B, which accounted for more than three-quarters of its total sales. The biggest contributor was Google Search revenue, at $48.51B.