Will Google's corporate group be broken up following the antitrust trial? Day 3 of the critical case

12PUNTO FOREIGN NEWS

In the U.S., Google has gone on trial on charges of attempting to monopolize the market. The U.S. Department of Justice's indictment argues that Google has attempted to monopolize the markets for publisher ad servers and ad networks, and has made plans to dominate the ad exchange market.

On the third day of the hearing (September 12), prosecutors began presenting evidence regarding how Google employees thought about the company's products during the period when the government claims it was aiming to dominate the ad tech market.

FORMER EMPLOYEE'S MESSAGES EXPOSE GOOGLE

According to evidence shown in court, David Rosenblatt, Google's former President of Display Advertising, sent messages to other employees during his time as an executive at the company that made it clear their goal was to monopolize the market.

In an internal company message estimated to be from late 2008 or early 2009, Rosenblatt said regarding the company's strategy: 'We will crush other networks and that is our goal.'

Rosenblatt joined Google in 2008 with the acquisition of the ad tech company DoubleClick and left the following year.

According to the evidence, Rosenblatt said, 'We are both Goldman and the NYSE,' implying they had become a monopoly by citing Goldman, one of the world's largest market auditors at the time, and the NYSE, one of the largest market makers.

In the presented evidence, Rosenblatt also mentions that Google prevents its customers from turning to alternatives, stating that switching platforms is a 'nightmare' for publishers.

According to the evidence, Rosenblatt says, 'It would take an act of God' for this to happen (referring to advertisers leaving Google).

Rosenblatt, who is currently the CEO of the online luxury marketplace 1stDibs, declined to comment to the press.

On the other hand, Google denies the allegations, stating that it is in intense competition with rival digital advertising companies.

GOOGLE WAS APPARENTLY PROVIDING 'MONOPOLY TRAINING' TO EMPLOYEES

It was learned that this evidence, consisting of Rosenblatt's messages obtained by prosecutors, had been read by new employees at Google over the past years. It is alleged that Google used Rosenblatt's words to 'train' its new employees.

Brad Bender, another former DoubleClick executive who worked at Google until 2022, admitted in his testimony at the hearing that he forwarded the messages to his team and said they were 'worth reading' for that time.

Google argued that it is not the only company offering an integrated product suite for advertisers and publishers, and that Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms have similar features.

If U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema decides that Google has violated the law, she will consider the prosecutors' request that the company at least sell Google Ad Manager, a platform that includes the publisher ad server and the ad exchange.

News Source: 12punto