The U.S. Department of Justice will ask a judge to force Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab to sell off its Chrome internet browser, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the plans.
Seems like a bad idea. I know a company that would love to buy the biggest web browser on the market; a company which itself once had a stranglehold on the web just twenty years ago. The conclusion of that case was rather anti-climactic.
They should split it off into its own company instead.
I really don’t want Microsoft to be in control of the world’s largest browser again…
If Apple purchased it, they would make it exclusive to their platforms.
If they let Amazon buy Chrome, this would be a net negative result.
Spinning the browser and Android arms off into their own companies AT&T style is the only reasonable option, even though there’s no way a browser company will be able to make any money. What a horrible situation to be in for everybody.
Most of the value of Android is only in Google services. It’s in Google Play, Google Play Services, Gmail, YouTube, Google Chrome, and Google Photos. Selling off Android would only work if you served Google an injunction to let said company use all their services/apps and snip the OHA agreement where all OEMs agree not to ship competing app stores to Google Play lest they lose the right to ship Google Play and associated services/apps.
That’s going to be real fun to unravel.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter until 2027, but they’ve got their work cut out for them.