Google's Slap on the Wrist Could Reshape the Digital World
The Ruling That Wasn't a Breakup
Well, that was an anticlimax. For years, we’ve been told the trustbusters were coming for Google, ready to dismantle the empire brick by digital brick. The expectation was a corporate execution, a forced separation of Chrome, Android, and Search. Instead, what we got was something far more peculiar, and to my mind, far more interesting. The judge essentially told Alphabet it could keep its kingdom, but it had to start sharing the crown jewels.
The market, of course, breathed a sigh of relief. Alphabet’s valuation promptly sailed past the three trillion dollar mark, a figure so large it’s almost meaningless. Investors celebrated that the company wasn't being carved up like a Sunday roast. But I think they might be missing the real story. The true earthquake isn't that Google survived, it's the condition of its survival. For the first time, a court has mandated that the company must share its precious data with competitors. This isn't a fine, it's a fundamental change to the rules of the game.
