Google Escapes Forced Breakup of AdX Marketplace
Google avoided a forced breakup of its advertising technology business, Reuters reported Wednesday (Sept. 2). U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, rejected the Department of Justice’s bid to require Google to sell AdX, the company’s advertising exchange where publishers pay Google a 20% fee to sell ads through auctions that occur when users […] The post Google Escapes…
A U.S. district judge in Virginia has ruled against the Department of Justice's attempt to force Google to split its advertising exchange, AdX, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The lawsuit, filed in 2023, claimed Google dominated the market for advertising technology used by online publishers and websites. Judge Leonie Brinkema, who made the decision in April 2025, acknowledged that Google held illegal monopolies over publisher ad servers and exchanges, and that the company's actions caused significant harm to publishers, the competitive process, and consumers.
Google argued that a forced sale would be technically difficult and could harm customers, as it would be a complex transition process. The Department of Justice argued that Google could not be trusted to operate AdX due to its previous behavior, but the court rejected this claim. Google's Ad Manager accounted for 4.1% of its overall revenue and 1.5% of operating profit in 2020, according to the report, citing Wedbush research and court documents.
The judge's decision is the third time in a row that a U.S. judge has rejected an attempt to break up a major technology company, following similar rejections for Meta Platforms and Google's Chrome browser.
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