Shares of Google’s parent company popped in after-hours trading, after a federal judge ruled that the tech giant doesn’t have to sell its Chrome browser, a major win for the search giant that soothes worries it might have had to give up a key part of its business.
Alphabet (GOOGL) stock was recently up 7% in extended trading, after dropping close to 1% during the regular session amid broader market losses. (Read Investopedia’s full coverage of today’s trading here.) It’s added about 12% in 2025 through Tuesday’s close.
Tuesday’s order from Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled a year ago that Google held an illegal monopoly in search, will allow the company to keep the browser after the Department of Justice reportedly mulled pushing for a sale.
An Attempt to Avoid ‘Crippling Downstream Harms’
The ruling, which eliminates some of the more punitive potential outcomes that were under consideration, also allows Google to continue paying other companies to place and preload Chrome on new devices, citing concerns that ending the practice would ultimately hurt consumers.
“Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial—in some cases, crippling—downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban,” Mehta wrote.
The order does prohibit Google from making exclusive search deals that would interfere with rivals being able to place their own search products as alternatives, opening the door to more competition. The company will also be required to share some data with competitors.
Google said in a statement that it has some concerns about how the requirements outlined in Mehta’s ruling could affect users and their privacy, and that it’s “reviewing the decision closely.”
The Rise of AI ‘Changed the Course’ of Google’s Case
Mehta wrote that the rapid rise of artificial intelligence also “changed the course of this case,” as a nascent competitive threat.
While AI hasn’t come close to displacing traditional search providers, AI technologies “may yet prove to be game changers,” he wrote, noting millions of people now use chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude to get information they would have previously obtained through internet search.
Google said it believes the decision “recognizes how much the industry has changed through the advent of AI, which is giving people so many more ways to find information.”
Tuesday’s ruling could set a favorable precedent for other tech giants like Meta (META) and Apple (AAPL), which both face ongoing monopoly cases. The iPhone maker could continue receiving compensation for making Google’s search products available on Apple devices, though the arrangements may not be exclusive.
This article has been updated since it was first published to include additional information.