According to Bloomberg , the US Department of Justice is trying to force Google to sell its Chrome browser. Chrome's fate is in the hands of Judge Amit Mehta, who in August declared Google an illegal monopoly in the search market.

chrome bloomberg
The Chrome browser is a gateway to many other Google services. Photo: Bloomberg

Judge Mehta said Alphabet, Google’s parent company, paid a total of $26 billion in 2021 to make Chrome the default option on smartphones and computers, keeping other competitors out. The judge said no one had challenged Google’s dominance for more than a decade.

In addition, the US Justice Department also wants Judge Mehta to set requirements for AI and Google's Android operating system.

Alphabet has a market capitalization of more than $2 trillion, largely thanks to Google's hugely profitable advertising business, Judge Mehta said.

Chrome is the most popular web browser in the US with 61% market share, according to web traffic analytics firm StatCounter. Google search holds more than 88% of the search engine market share in this market.

Google also uses Chrome to direct users to Gemini, its AI chatbot.

If Judge Mehta agrees with the Justice Department's proposal, Chrome would be worth at least $15 billion to $20 billion given its more than 3 billion monthly users, according to Bloomberg .

Techalysis Research analyst Bob O'Donnell commented that this is not the direct revenue from Chrome, but Chrome acts as a gateway to everything else.

Meanwhile, Google Vice President of Legal Affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland argued that the Justice Department's approach threatens consumers, developers, and America's technology leadership at a time when it is needed most.

(According to USA Today)