Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business • Hacker News Board

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#321

Post by swed420 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 1:27 PM UTC

xahrepap wrote: post #113

Slightly tangential thought: My belief is: legislation needs to either make it just as hard to merge two companies as it is to unmerge them, or make it just as easy to unmerge two companies as it is to merge them. It's insane to me that for how often companies merge and cause competition issues, we effectively never see the opposite happen. I know there's a ceremonial approval for merging two companies (at least in t…

> My belief is: legislation needs to either make it just as hard to merge two companies as it is to unmerge them

This is a good start, but it needs to be more generalized to also cover a related and overarching problem:

Modern Capitalism Is Weirder Than You Think: It also no longer works as advertised

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/how-asset-managers-h...

(https://archive.is/wSmtd)

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#322

Post by anon84873628 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

newtwentysix wrote: post #237

crowcroft wrote: post #209

They lost in court, and were found to be a Monopoly. The solution is they tell the court, "sorry we will stop abusing our behaviour now", and then it's just all good?

all the "donations" are working, hence this. same with the meta case too.

And how exactly are they working? The DOJ didn't drop the case or withdraw its request for a breakup. And Judge Brinkema is the Clinton-appointed judge who just blocked Trump's 1.6B anti-weaponization fund, so it's not like she's in the administration's pocket.

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#323

Post by anon84873628 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

strictnein wrote: post #9

jordanb wrote: post #2

That "Lake America" is doing a hell of a lot of work for Google

The judge was appointed by Clinton, so they've been in their role for decades now. It seems unlikely that someone who has served that long in her position would rule based on making the child in the White House happy.

Indeed, Judge Brinkema is more recently famous for blocking the 1.6B "anti-weaponization fund".

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#324

Post by anon84873628 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 1:50 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #28

strictnein wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The judge was appointed by Clinton, so they've been in their role for decades now. It seems unlikely that someone who has served that long in her position would rule based on making the child in the White House happy.

To the contrary, the entire DOJ understands that FAANG and the three-letter-agencies are one revolving door. Any judge that attempts to defang Google's data collection may well run afoul of the American surveillance system, which this administration will fight tooth and nail to defend. Not very different from how federal protectionism keeps Apple's App Store centralized despite trillions of dollars in ostensible mark…

Then why is the DOJ bringing the anti-trust cases in the first place? You think it's all one big conspiracy with the judges so they can save face with consumers?

This litigation was initiated under the Biden admin and not withdrawn by Trump.

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#325

Post by anon84873628 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

pocksuppet wrote: post #274

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To all the people pissed about the "Lake America" stuff: why in the actual fuck do you want Google of all organizations to be arbiter of geographical info, instead of federal institutions that are (at least nominally) operated under democratic principles? Don't you understand the horror of what you're suggesting: "I want Google to impose it's own personal value judgments over the government's." Yes, I think it's incr…

Why should the USA override every other country about the names of things outside the USA?

Uh, does it? And with regards to Google Maps, when you use it in a different country you see different things... Not just names, but even the borders.

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#326

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

xahrepap wrote: post #113

Slightly tangential thought: My belief is: legislation needs to either make it just as hard to merge two companies as it is to unmerge them, or make it just as easy to unmerge two companies as it is to merge them. It's insane to me that for how often companies merge and cause competition issues, we effectively never see the opposite happen. I know there's a ceremonial approval for merging two companies (at least in t…

[deleted]

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#327

Post by anon84873628 » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

spl757 wrote: post #110

I have no proof, but this just figures. It's entirely plausible that google gave some heavy-duty major dark money campaign donations and have used the return on their investment to avoid being broken up. Maybe I'm just cynical and the corporations and ultra-wealthy wouldn't really do anything like that all the time. They are ultra-greedy, though.

You should probably learn how courts work so you can construct hypotheses that are consistent with observations. In this case, that the outcome was due to the ruling of a "liberal" judge, and not because the government withdrew its case.

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#328

Post by jpadkins » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 2:19 PM UTC

hightrix wrote: post #191

spl757 wrote: post #110

I have no proof, but this just figures. It's entirely plausible that google gave some heavy-duty major dark money campaign donations and have used the return on their investment to avoid being broken up. Maybe I'm just cynical and the corporations and ultra-wealthy wouldn't really do anything like that all the time. They are ultra-greedy, though.

> Sergey Brin ($154 billion), the co-founder of Alphabet and seventh-richest man in the world, joined Musk, Bezos and others in being seated behind Trump during the swearing-in. You aren't cynical. Big tech absolutely bent the knee and are now wearing red kneepads.

Correct. Trump has a lot of influence over liberal, Clinton appointed, judges.

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#329

Post by keybored » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 2:22 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #319

franga2000 wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self-driving cars are an absurdly inefficient way to reduce traffic deaths that exists only because it makes substantially more money for shareholders than the alternatives. You are being witheld a good and cheap solution now for the promise of a worse and expensive solution some time in the future. All the while people keep dying. Oh, and what's this "those who don't have it" bullshit? If anything, turning driving i…

I prefer to live in reality, where American suburbs are nowhere near dense enough for public transport to pencil out, plus there is no political will from the voters for it. No one is tearing up existing roads and replatting all the detached single family homes to more dense housing. Waymo is a real solution to reducing injuries from distracted and drunk drivers, as well as reducing insurance costs. Obviously, if Way…

> I prefer to live in reality, where American suburbs are nowhere near dense enough for public transport to pencil out, plus there is no political will from the voters for it. No one is tearing up existing roads and replatting all the detached single family homes to more dense housing.

Car Country was designed by the US car lobby. Political will of the voters? Oh yeah sure, now a century into it that’s also not palatable for home owners and the like.

Re: Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

#330

Post by airstrike » Thu, Sep 03, 2026, 2:51 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #290

mastermage wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% we do not need one company that makes everything hi there Samsung.

Conglomerates may not be as nimble and agile as single-focus companies, but they are uniquely more resilient to economic shock events, and branches being "unprofitable" for a time can be supported by others. Unfortunately, MBA beancounter/neoliberal extremism aka "throw out everything not the core business" has become the norm... and so, with Covid, Ukraine and Trump's tariff and Iran wars, we got a ton of "single fo…

Conglomerates aren't a strictly optimal form of organization. They are more resilient, but they are also massively bureaucratic and can lose their focus. They may also be able to exert a disproportionate amount of leverage on vendors and suppliers.

I'm not saying infinitely asset-light companies are strictly superior either.

I'm saying there's no silver bullet or free lunch here.

If you look at it from one layer above, capital markets that enable the continuous recycling of corporate structures into smaller or larger as needed are more resilient than those in which company structures are ossified.

Of course not every deal is for the better. But no M&A isn't good either. Speaking as a former Wall St M&A banker.