Google aimed to control web ad tech, US prosecutor says as trial begins
Justice Department alleges Google stymied competition in online ad tech
Google denies allegations, citing competition in apps and connected TV
Trial to feature witnesses from Google, competitors and publishers
Recasts with opening statements, adds dateline and share move
By Jody Godoy
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google sought to dominate all sides of online advertising technology by controlling competitors and customers, a Justice Department prosecutor said as trial began in the tech titan's latest antitrust showdown in Alexandria, Virginia on Monday.
Prosecutors say Google has largely dominated the technological infrastructure that funds the flow of news and information on websites through more than 150,000 online ad sales every second.
Google used classic monopoly-building tactics of eliminating competitors through acquisitions, locking customers into using its products, and controlling how transactions occurred in the online ad market, Julia Tarver Wood, an attorney with the Justice Department's antitrust division, said in an opening statement.
"Google is not here because they are big, they are here because they used that size to crush competition," she said.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema is hearing the case without a jury, and will issue a ruling after the multi-week trial concludes.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states based their case on "ancient history" from a time when Google was still working on making its tools able to connect to competitors', said Google's lead attorney Karen Dunn.
Google's tools are now interoperable with its rivals, and the company faces competition from technology companies including Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Comcast CMCSA.O as digital ad spending shifts to apps and streaming video, she said.
The case is "like a time capsule that if you broke it open you would find a BlackBerry, an iPod and a Blockbuster Video card," she said.
Dunn compared the allegations to claims that Google defeated in the recent search monopoly case.
Dunn left the courtroom after delivering the opening statement. She is preparing Vice President Kamala Harris for a televised debate with former President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
At trial, prosecutors are seeking to show Google used dominant positions in technology for publishers and advertisers to keep them from using other tools and undercut bids placed through competitors' products.
Tim Wolfe, an advertising executive at Gannett GCI.N, testified on Monday that the company has used Google's publisher ad server for around 13 years, and that there are no other realistic options.
If Brinkema finds that Google broke the law, she would later consider prosecutors' request to make Google sell off, at minimum, Google Ad Manager, a platform that includes Google's publisher ad server and its ad exchange.
Shares in Alphabet were down 1.7% in the afternoon.
According to research by stock analyst Wedbush, Google's ad tech tools accounted for $20 billion, or 11% of the company's gross revenue in 2020 and around $1 billion, or 2.6%, of operating profit that year.
Ad Manager represented 4.1% of revenue and 1.5% of operating profit in 2020, according to Wedbush research and analysis of court documents.
More recent figures were redacted from court documents.
The case is one of several challenging alleged Big Tech monopolies.
The Justice Department won a ruling against Google last month in another case over its dominance in online search, and is separately suing Apple AAPL.O. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is pursuing cases against Facebook parent Meta Platforms META.O and Amazon.
Reporting by Jody Godoy in Alexandria; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Nick Zieminski
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Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
