Topline
Google will not have to sell its advertising tech business as part of antitrust litigation against the search giant, a federal judge in Virginia ruled in a sealed decision on Wednesday, allowing the tech company to maintain the business even after the same judge found it maintained a monopoly last year.
A federal judge previously ruled Google maintained a monopoly on online advertising in April 2025.
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Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected the Justice Department’s proposal to force Google to sell AdX, also known as Google Ad Exchange—the company’s platform that places ads sold in real-time auctions when users open a publisher’s website.
Brinkema’s full decision was temporarily sealed, but in the shorter memo made public she said she was accepting “most” of the Justice Department’s previously proposed behavioral remedies instead.
Brinkema did not specify which behavioral remedies were accepted.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“We’re very pleased the Court rejected the DOJ’s proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in a statement on social media shortly after the ruling was handed down.
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