A federal judge on Wednesday denied the U.S. Justice Department's motion to require Alphabet Inc.'s Google to sell its advertising exchange, signaling that the court will not impose an immediate structural remedy. Judge Leonie Brinkema issued the decision under seal with a short order that rejects the Justice Department's demand for a divestiture of Google’s AdX.
Instead of ordering the sale of the exchange, the judge directed behavioral changes to how Google conducts its business, though the order did not disclose the specific measures. The court said a redacted version of the decision will be published at a later date, which should reveal the contours of the required operational adjustments.
The ruling allows Google to retain its advertising exchange in the wake of an April 2025 ruling that found the company had illegally monopolized two advertising-technology markets. The Justice Department had sought both a forced sale of the AdX platform and public disclosure of the auction logic that determines which advertisements are shown on publishers' sites.
Within Google’s broader business, the ad exchange is a limited component. According to the court filings, publishers pay Google a 20% fee to sell advertising inventory through auctions that take place instantaneously when a user loads a web page. That revenue stream was part of the controversy at the center of the April decision.
Market reaction was modest: Google’s shares traded roughly 1% higher on Wednesday following the judge’s order.
The Wednesday ruling represents the second occasion on which Google has successfully resisted Justice Department efforts to require asset sales as a remedy for illegal monopolistic conduct.
Context and implications
The court’s path - denying a forced sale while mandating behavioral remedies - leaves in place Google’s ownership of the exchange but imposes limits on how it may operate. At present, the precise nature and scope of those limits remain sealed pending publication of a redacted opinion.