Google search is miles ahead of the competition still. Google will just be fined, forced to end those agreements with Apple and see some profit boost from the forced cost cutting ($20bn alone by not paying apple anymore - and apple loses out on that 20bn...). Meanwhile, people will still use the search engine.

They might be asked to be broken up , but I just can't see what difference that would make. End of the day users have already voted with their clicks, and its to use google search over anything else.

Imagine if $20bn is not paid by google to apple anymore. $20bn is a quarter's worth of net income for apple. Without it a quarter of their profits vanish. The payment is also 100% profit margin. So their % margins will fall a bit.

Seems to me Apple and others sold to the highest bidder which ended up being google. Not the other way around.

Maybe that was a key reason for berkshire selling their stake in apple?

Never a dull day in markets and especially in technology investments!

Interesting reads on the monopoly case
https://www.thebignewsle...-google-is-a-monopolist
https://pluralistic.net/...s/#extinguish-v-improve

The first more "get ready for the post-Google web" optimistic (although note the PS under it about the UK CMA intervention!); the second more "they'll string it out with appeals / throw Trump a PAC money bung to drop it".

MSFT getting too big was the last one - after a lot of huffing and puffing MSFT is still here.
GOOG too big - likelyhood same result
Next - AAPL is monopoly - the public response *no s*** sheriock they have always been it from the beginning with their closed system.

What you really mean is that - you cannot manage theses behemoths and the public/user bases is not budging - thus better to make some monies in the form of fines !

Indeed, and as an owner of Google for over 5 years it would be much welcome.

Risk to Google though is that Android (which is 70% of the smart phone market) and Google must split ways because it is monopolistic (similar to MSFT and IE). But I think this might depend on how forceful Android is for its users to use the SE. And I suspect the outcome of this scenario won't matter too much as the android users will most likely continue to use google SE. I mean why bother using anything else?

MSFT (also own it for many years) went through all this decades ago and continues to but somehow pulls through the hurdles (even got away with purchasing Activision). So I am in the belief that Google will do just fine (just pay the fines - pun intended!).

Happy to see Berkshire (as an owner) make tough decisions like selling some Apple; presumably because of prospective returns concerns given valuation but perhaps the $20bn payment suddenly disappearing from Apple's bottom line may have something to do with it also.

It will be interesting to see what the courts decide RE the Google case.