A federal judge ruled that Google does not have to sell its Chrome browser after finding its search business a monopoly. The Justice Department had proposed forcing the sale as part of a 2020 antitrust suit, but the judge rejected that remedy while imposing other penalties. Google employees posted jokes and memes on the company's internal message board celebrating that Chrome will remain part of the company and that the stock jumped in after-hours trading. The Chrome browser serves as a major distribution channel for search advertising and provides extensive user data.
A federal judge just ruled that Google does not have to sell its Chrome browser, and Googlers seem pretty happy about it. On Tuesday, US District Judge Amit Mehta handed down penalties to Google after ruling its search business a monopoly. The US Justice Department, which filed the suit against Google in 2020, had proposed forcing the company to sell its Chrome browser. The judge ruled against this-one of several decisions made in the landmark antitrust case.
Google employees have been lighting up the company's central internal message board, filling it with jokes about the soaring stock and how Google no longer has to part with its beloved browser, per messages and memes reviewed by Business Insider. One employee edited a caption of a scene from "The Lord of the Rings" to read "Looks like Chrome is back on the menu, boys!"
A Chrome sell-off could have been very painful for Google. The browser has become a huge distribution channel for the company's search advertising business, sucking up vast amounts of useful data. Google's stock popped more than 6% in after-hours trading - something that Googlers also joked about inside the company. "Sending support to Googlers who sold $GOOG recently," read one caption on a picture of a candle.
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