Everything can change on the Internet, and Chrome users can prepare for it

In a court filing last week, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) proposed, among other things, that Google should sell the Chrome browser.

In addition, I would oblige the company to

• don’t pay other companies like Apple to make Google the default search engine for their browser,
• must make all search data public,
• should provide greater transparency to advertisers and consumers,
• and must give their competitors access to the search index for a “marginal cost”, a database of websites and online content that is constantly updated.

With the latter, competitors could create different types of search engines targeting different markets or consumers. Some could charge subscription fees instead of collecting user data or serving ads, while others could focus on shopping or social media.

The proposed remedies stem from a landmark August antitrust ruling in which Amit Mehta federal judge found that Google illegally suppressed its competitors in the Internet search market.

Google was subject to antitrust proceedings during the first Trump administration and has continued under President Joe Biden.

According to Internet traffic analysis platform Statcounter, Google’s search engine accounts for about 90 percent of global online searches, while the Chrome browser currently dominates about 61 percent of the market in the United States.

What effect can the sale have?

Google doesn’t make money directly from Chrome, but the browser is vital to the company’s business as it serves as a sort of portal that continually drives users to revenue-generating services like Google Search and YouTube. Without your browser, your company could see a drop in traffic and revenue from these services.

In 2023, Google’s search segment, which includes Gmail and Google Maps ads, generated $175 billion, or 57 percent of Alphabet’s total revenue.

Android, which owns about 70 percent of the global phone market, could also experience significant changes if Chrome splits from Google. An Android phone may become more complicated to use or set up, but the split could also open up opportunities for Google’s rivals. For example, Apple could benefit specifically if removing Chrome makes Google’s operating system less attractive to some phone buyers.

Who can be the buyer?

If Google has to sell Chrome, finding a buyer for a multi-billion dollar company could be a real challenge. THE Bloomberg Intelligence in his estimation

Chrome is estimated to be worth around $20 billion. For comparison, Facebook bought WhatsApp for about that price a decade ago, when the messaging app had negligible revenue and roughly a seventh of Chrome’s user base.

Some buyers would also raise new antitrust issues.

Among the potential candidates we find companies such as Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic or Amazon, which if they make a new AI search engine the default in Chrome, then they could compete also in the search market with Google.

OpenAI already released a search feature for paid users of ChatGPT at the end of October, and will make it available to all free users in the coming months. According to the company, the new feature will include links to resources such as news and blog posts.

said the Washington Postnak Ari Paparoa veteran online advertising executive who currently leads ad media company Marketecture.

According to Paparo, a more neutral solution would be for Chrome to become a non-profit organization like Mozilla, which owns the Firefox browser.

In addition, another judge may decide in the future that no default search engine can be allowed in any browser. And that would make Chrome much less attractive.

MG Sieglera former partner in Google’s venture capital division, moreover, selling Chrome at the search engine level “would only really change things if they installed something else as the default.” It is hard to imagine that a competing artificial intelligence search engine without a default advantage can really make Google compete.

When can a decision be made?

Google responded by saying that with its proposals, the department had opted for “a radical interventionist agenda that harms Americans and America’s global technology leadership.” They see that the decision could cause a break in many Google products, which would also affect the daily activities of the masses of users.

The tech company can use its legal remedies until December 20, and the court is expected to make a final decision in the case by the summer of 2025.

Here, too, everything may depend on Trump

It is not yet clear how the Trump administration, which will take office in January, will approach the matter. The president-elect previously accused Google of being biased against him, but meanwhile also indicated that his government would strike a friendlier tone with large companies.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will lead the Department of Justice after Donald Trump takes office after Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida withdrew from the candidacy.

Under his leadership, in accordance with Trump’s decision, the parties may even move in the direction of compromise, so it is still an open question whether Chrome can remain in Google’s hands.