A federal judge refused to order Google to sell its ad exchange, which takes a forced sale off the table for the ad stack, and the small bounce that followed says the argument over Alphabet has moved to the token price sheet.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 27%
- Operator
- Operator 25%
- Investor
- Investor 48%
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption30
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives55
- Confidence60
The unsealed 106-page opinion keeps Google's exchange intact but ends the rule that DFP publishers route through it, and it sets six years of outside oversight whose scope the reporting still disagrees on.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+14
- Incentives62
- Confidence58
Google keeps AdX under a six-year interoperability order
Judge Leonie Brinkema refused to order a sale of AdX and instead bound Google to six years of interoperability terms and an internal compliance monitor, over a unit the New York Times puts at about $30 billion a year.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives60
- Confidence45
Brinkema outlaws three Google auction mechanics without touching its 91% ad server share
The court ended first look, last look and mandatory uniform floors, but Google still owns both the ad server publishers depend on and the exchange it feeds, which makes AdX's decade-old 20% take rate the test.
Reality
- Evidence45
- Adoption20
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives60
- Confidence50
Brinkema lets Google keep the ad stack her own ruling called nearly impossible to leave
The Justice Department asked for a divestiture of Google's ad tech and came away with conduct rules that nobody outside the case has read yet, which leaves publishers planning their next renewal against a remedy still being redacted.
Reality
- Evidence46
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+22
- Incentives68
- Confidence44