Google stock surges 7% after dodging worst-case antitrust breakup

Google’s stock climbed early Wednesday, September 03, following a significant federal cort decision in the antitrust case against Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

The court’s ruling avoided one of the biggest potential penalties for the tech giant, fueled investor optimism that major tech firms can navigate ongoing regulatory challenges.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.17% and Nasdaq-100 futures, heavily weightened with tech stock, jumped 0.35%.

Google parent company, Alphabet’s shares surged more than 7% in after-hours trading.

Despite a favourable ruling, the court ordered that Google can’t strike exclusive search deals and is obliged to share some search data with competitors.

The judge rejected the government’s request to force a spin-off of its Chrome browser.

The decision is seen as a major victory for not only Google but also for all tech companies.

This also preserves lucrative deals like the one with Apple to preload Google Search on iPhones.

Following this news, Apple’s stock also rose over 3%.

The decision also represents the increasing competitive landscape, with the judge noting that the emergence of generative AI has given consumers more choice changing the dynamic of the search market since the case was filed in 2020.