Then there’s the question of breaking up Google’s holding company Alphabet to house search in a different business unit. This may not be effective because Google’s dominance across a range of applications from Maps to YouTube allows the company to be carved up and yet retain incredible clout. Google search may no longer be soldered on to, say, YouTube, and it may not be allowed to pay Apple to use it. Yet, till consumers on YouTube find an alternative as good as Google search, they are likely to stick with it. Google emerged from a pack of search engines, and remains the default option for most human interactions with the internet.
Google may have its antitrust playbook in place. Yet, multiple action across jurisdictions on different parts of the mother ship will eventually dilute its dominance. It’s facing lawsuits over Android, Google Shopping, AdSense, Play Store and search, among others. And the list will only get longer. This should progressively dilute Google’s negotiating position for settlements while retaining corporate and business integrity. The US ruling on search, a vital part of Google’s ecosystem, plugs oversight in its home market that had become relatively slack. The days of chopping up giant technology companies may be behind us. But they are still subject to equally effective slicing.
