Google is currently engaged in an antitrust lawsuit with the US Department of Justice, and according to informed sources, Google seems willing to make concessions first to end the EU's antitrust investigation.
According to two informed sources on Wednesday, Google is willing to sell its advertising trading platform AdX, which allows publishers to provide their unsold ad space to advertisers in real-time as an intermediary market. But European publishers say that selling AdX alone is not sufficient.
The anti-monopoly agency in the United States hopes to force Google to sell its advertising manager products, including AdX and Google's publisher ad server (DFP).
Three lawyers involved in antitrust cases revealed that Google has never proposed a compromise plan such as selling assets in previous antitrust cases. This also highlights the significant pressure that Google is currently facing in the field of antitrust.
Continuous anti-monopoly investigations
Insiders pointed out that European publishers hope that Google will not only divest AdX. According to previous testimonies from different publishers, Google has a strong monopoly in the advertising industry and has used this power to harm the interests of competitors, publishers, and advertisers.
In 2019, the European Commission ruled that Google abused its dominant position in the advertising industry to prevent its clients from using the services of other brokers. The EU has therefore imposed a fine of up to 1.49 billion euros on Google.
But this punishment was revoked on Wednesday. The European Court of Justice stated that the European Commission made a mistake in assessing antitrust situations and failed to consider all relevant circumstances.
However, this is just one of Google's many troubles in Europe, as the EU imposed fines of up to 8.2 billion euros on Google from 2017 to 2019 due to antitrust investigations.
Sources point out that due to the complexity of the case, the European Commission is currently unlikely to require Google to divest its assets, but may make a request in the coming months to order Google to stop its so-called anti competitive behavior. If Google does not cooperate with the relevant orders, the EU may issue another withdrawal order.
Although Google is being targeted by both European and American regulatory agencies, its public attitude remains very firm. Google stated that the European Commission's allegations against third-party display advertising products are a misinterpretation of the advertising technology field, which is highly competitive and rapidly developing, and Google remains committed to developing this business.
As of now, Google has not responded to the possible sale of AdX.