Google avoids breakup of ad-tech business, judge orders compliance officer instead

The Department of Justice wanted to break up Google’s advertising empire. It didn’t get what it wanted. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled on September 2 that Google will not be forced to divest its AdX ad exchange or sell off its DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad server, rejecting the structural remedies the DOJ had been pushing for. Instead, the court opted for behavioral fixes and an internal compliance officer to address the antitrust violations it had already confirmed back in April 2025. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is currently valued at roughly $4.11 trillion. Its stock barely flinched. Wall Street, it turns out, had been betting on exactly this outcome. What the DOJ wanted versus what it got The government’s case was ambitious. Federal prosecutors argued that Google should be compelled to sell its AdX exchange, and that its DFP ad server should either be open-sourced or divested entirely. The logic was straightforward: Google controlled both sides of the digital advertising marketplace and the exchange in the middle, creating what the DOJ characterized as an inescapable chokepoint. In April 2025, Judge Brinkema found that Google maintained illegal monopolies i...