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The US government formally proposed a partial breakup of Google on Wednesday, urging a federal judge to force a sale of the company’s Chrome web browser after a landmark ruling this year found that Google had violated US antitrust law with its search business. The request by the Justice Department and a group of states opens the door to the most significant antitrust penalties for a tech giant in a generation, targeting not only Google’s illegal monopoly in search but also its growing ambitions in artificial intelligence. If approved, the penalties could revolutionize how millions of Americans search for information and potentially disrupt the tight integration among many of Google’s key products and services. Google has promised to appeal. The high-profile case focused on whether the tactics that made Google the default search engine in Chrome – as well as on iPhones, Android devices and more – were anticompetitive, shutting out smaller search engines from the market. In their court filing this week, antitrust enforcers said a spinoff of Chrome, which is used on billions of devices worldwide, could help prevent an illegal monopoly from recurring. “The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired,” the government lawyers wrote. “The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.” They added that the court should ban agreements such as Google’s exclusive, multi-year contracts with Apple, Samsung and others that made Google the default search engine on their devices. District Judge Amit Mehta said in an August ruling that such agreements helped cement Google’s dominance in violation of federal law. And Google should be required to syndicate its US search results to other rival search engines for the next decade, officials said in their filing, a move that could put other search alternatives on more even footing with Google. DOJ lawyers called on Mehta to impose a range of other restrictions, some aimed at preventing possible future harm. One such request would require Google to give websites the option not to have their data collected for training the company’s artificial intelligence tools. Testifying in the case last year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned of a “nightmare” future for AI if Google were permitted to translate the billions of search queries it processes every day into training data for its AI models. Microsoft has struggled to compete with Google using its own search engine, Bing, and is a leading rival to Google in AI thanks to an exclusive partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI. In a blog post , Google President and Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker called the government proposal “extreme” and said it would undercut Americans’ security and privacy by making Google share its user data with others. “DOJ chose to push a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership,” Walker said. “DOJ’s wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court’s decision. It would break a range of Google products — even beyond Search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives.” Walker added that Google intends to present its own proposal to the court in December, “and will make our broader case next year.” ‘A monopolist’ Brought in 2020 under the first Trump administration and continued under President Joe Biden, the DOJ’s Google Search case alleged that Google had used multiple interlocking tactics and products under its control to block out competitors in search such as Bing and DuckDuckGo, leaving consumers with few choices and a less innovative market for search engines. Over the course of a multi-week trial – much of it featuring sensitive testimony behind closed doors by executives from Apple, Microsoft, Verizon and others – Mehta weighed whether Google’s practices had harmed competition in search. He ultimately determined that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, one of the nation’s foremost anti-monopoly laws. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his opinion . The DOJ submission provides a broad menu of penalties that the US District Court for the District of Columbia could impose in response to Mehta’s ruling. The filing kicks off a multi-month fact-finding process that is expected to culminate in a hearing in April, with a final decision expected later in 2025. The DOJ requests promise to shake up a foundational part of the internet and Google’s oldest, most well-known business. On top of the Chrome divestiture, DOJ and state officials also called this week for Google Search to be separated from Google’s Android mobile operating system and the Google Play app store, though not necessarily in the form of a breakup or spinoff. Many of the proposals outlined in Wednesday’s filing were initially previewed in an earlier court submission in October. The proposed Google remedies seek to resolve the biggest antitrust lawsuit to hit the tech industry since the US government prosecuted Microsoft in the 1990s – a historic case widely viewed as paving the way for Google’s own rise in the first place. At the time, US antitrust officials accused Microsoft of illegally bundling its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows PC operating system, a move that allegedly harmed competition by preventing rival browsers such as Netscape Navigator from gaining traction with users. A settlement with the DOJ in that case announced in 2001 required that Microsoft share its programming interfaces with other software developers, effectively opening up its platform and giving other browser makers an opportunity to succeed. Clear parallels The Microsoft case has been credited with paving the way for Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome browsers, which ultimately allowed Google to promote its search engine to billions of internet users. The Microsoft parallels in the Google case are clear, Mehta wrote in his August opinion. “The end result here is not dissimilar from the Microsoft court’s conclusion as to the browser market,” Mehta said. “Just as the agreements in that case ‘help[ed] keep usage of Navigator below the critical level necessary for Navigator or any other rival to pose a real threat to Microsoft’s monopoly,’ Google’s distribution agreements have constrained the query volumes of its rivals, thereby inoculating Google against any genuine competitive threat.” Mehta’s decision came just months after a federal jury in California decided that Google’s app store terms violated US antitrust law and that Google has run an illegal monopoly in Android app distribution. Last month, the judge overseeing that case imposed a three-year injunction forbidding Google from a number of practices, such as the use of terms forcing app developers to use Google’s proprietary payment system for in-app billing. Google has appealed the jury verdict as well as the injunction. Even as Google fights the Justice Department on remedies in the search case, the company is embroiled in another antitrust battle just across the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virginia. There, the DOJ is prosecuting Google in another federal court over claims the tech giant has illegally monopolized the market for digital advertising technology – the complex ecosystem of businesses that determines which ads appear on countless websites across the internet. That case, filed in 2023, went to trial this fall, and closing arguments are expected to take place on Monday.ATLANTA (AP) — Deliberations are underway in Atlanta after a year of testimony in the gang and racketeering trial that originally included the rapper Young Thug. Jurors are considering whether to convict Shannon Stillwell and Deamonte Kendrick, who raps as Yak Gotti, on gang, murder, drug and gun charges. The original indictment charged 28 people with conspiring to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Opening statements in the trial for six of those defendants happened a year ago . Four of them, including Young Thug, pleaded guilty last month. The rapper was freed on probation. Stillwell and Kendrick rejected plea deals after more than a week of negotiations, and their lawyers chose not to present evidence or witnesses. Both seemed to be in good spirits Tuesday morning after closings wrapped the previous night. Kendrick was chatting and laughing with Stillwell and his lawyers before the jury arrived for instructions. The jury started deliberating Tuesday afternoon and was dismissed at 5 p.m. Jurors are expected to resume deliberations Wednesday morning. If they don’t reach a verdict by 3 p.m. Wednesday, the judge will send them home for the Thanksgiving weekend and they will return Monday morning. Kendrick and Stillwell were charged in the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas Jr., also known as “Big Nut,” in an Atlanta barbershop. Prosecutors painted Stillwell and Kendrick as members of a violent street gang called Young Slime Life, or YSL, co-founded in 2012 by Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams. During closings on Monday, they pointed to tattoos, song lyrics and social media posts they said proved members, including Stillwell, admitted to killing people in rival gangs. Prosecutors say Thomas was in a rival gang. Stillwell was also charged in the 2022 killing of Shymel Drinks, which prosecutors said was in retaliation for the killing of two YSL associates days earlier. Defense attorneys Doug Weinstein and Max Schardt said the state presented unreliable witnesses, weak evidence and cherry-picked lyrics and social media posts to push a false narrative about Stillwell, Kendrick and the members of YSL. Schardt, Stillwell's attorney, reminded the jury that alleged YSL affiliates said during the trial that they had lied to police. Law enforcement played a “sick game” by promising they would escape long prison sentences if they said what police wanted them to say, Schardt said. He theorized that one of those witnesses could have killed Thomas. The truth is that their clients were just trying to escape poverty through music, Schardt said. “As a whole, we know the struggles that these communities have had,” Schardt said. “A sad, tacit acceptance that it’s either rap, prison or death.” Young Thug’s record label is also known as YSL, an acronym of Young Stoner Life. Kendrick was featured on two popular songs from the label’s compilation album Slime Language 2, “Take It to Trial" and “Slatty," which prosecutors presented as evidence in the trial. Weinstein, Kendrick’s defense attorney, said during closings it was wrong for prosecutors to target the defendants for their music and lyrics. Prosecutor Simone Hylton disagreed, and said surveillance footage and phone evidence supported her case. “They have the audacity to think they can just brag about killing somebody and nobody’s gonna hold them accountable,” Hylton said. The trial had more than its fair share of delays. Jury selection took nearly 10 months , and Stillwell was stabbed last year at the Fulton County jail, which paused trial proceedings. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker took over after Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville was removed from the case in July because he had a meeting with prosecutors and a state witness without defense attorneys present. Whitaker often lost patience with prosecutors over moves such as not sharing evidence with defense attorneys, once accusing them of “poor lawyering.” But the trial sped up under her watch. In October, four defendants, including Young Thug , pleaded guilty, with the rapper entering a non-negotiated or “blind” plea, meaning he didn't have a deal worked out with prosecutors. Nine people charged in the indictment, including rapper Gunna , accepted plea deals before the trial began. Charges against 12 others are pending. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case. Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon
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Mizuho Markets Cayman LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. ( NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report ) by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,759 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 25.3% of Mizuho Markets Cayman LP’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The trade was a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth View Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet Alphabet Price Performance Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $168.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet ( NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year. Alphabet Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%. Alphabet Company Profile ( Free Report ) Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube. Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Alphabet Insider Trading – What You Need to Know The Latest 13F Filings Are In: See Where Big Money Is Flowing Retail Stocks Investing, Explained 3 Penny Stocks Ready to Break Out in 2025 What is a Bond Market Holiday? How to Invest and Trade FMC, Mosaic, Nutrien: Top Agricultural Stocks With Big Potential Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. ( NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Alphabet Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alphabet and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
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