Google loses antitrust case, turns out Big Tech is not above the law

Its 25-year run of wins ends as the tech innovator once-beloved for not being evil is exposed as a monopolistic, greedy bully in court

Update

Google has lost the first of its three landmark antitrust trials and done so in inglorious fashion. The implications are massive.

First, it breaks Google’s $48 billion app store monopoly, and we will see how the markets react to that in the morning.

Second, the ruling will reset the power and valuation balance of the global tech titans.

And, this is just a harbinger of a multi-faceted series of attacks on Google’s search, advertising and AI businesses, that are altering the digital marketplace.

This app store challenge was brought by Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, the wildly popular game played by more than 400 million people worldwide.

Epic argued Google had a monopoly because it was able to charge them 10x as much as others to feature in the store.

It was a personal mission for Epic’s larger-than-life CEO Tim Sweeney, who said as the case began a month ago: “We’re fighting for consumer and developer freedom to do business directly, free of monopoly stores, monopoly payment process…