While a federal ruling last month found Google's parent company Alphabet would not have to break up or sell off parts of its business, the verdict spelled out certain changes for how the tech giant conducts its search business.

“I thought it was almost a best-case scenario if you’re Google,” said our analyst Jeremy Goldman on a recent episode of “Behind the Numbers."

Here are some implications for Google's near future.

Google's win

Analysts say last month’s ruling could have been far worse for Google. After all, last year the US District Court for the District of Columbia found the company had maintained an illegal monopoly, and the Department of Justice called for Google to sell off its Chrome browser.

Last month's verdict says it doesn’t have to.

“They lost the trial, in the sense that they are called a monopolist,” said our analyst Yory Wurmser. “But, they have to be happy with this stage, the remedy stage. Basically the big punishment is…they're no longer able to do the exclusive deals.”

Ending exclusivity

The verdict said Google can still pay companies to feature its search engine, but these deals just can’t be exclusive. That might hurt Google’s bottom line, but might not challenge its search dominance.

“If you're trying to create a true remedy here, you do have Google that's very dominant,” said Goldman. “It was becoming slightly less dominant? Yes. And largely that's in part because there are so many different offerings to consumers, in terms of how to search.”

GenAI-powered search platforms are already creating competition. Over 20% of US search users use ChatGPT (22.8%), Claude (21.9%) and Microsoft Copilot (21.9%) multiple times per day, according to a March 2025 EMARKETER survey.

Sharing data

As part of the ruling, Google was ordered to share index data and user click and query data with qualified competitors.

“There are a couple things here that are still unclear,” said Wurmsur. “One is, what exactly is the data that they're going to have to share? I mean, it's search index data, snapshots of search index data, and user interaction data. The details of that are going to have to be determined by a technical panel, exactly what types of data will come out.”

He added, “The data that they are going to have to share is going to, I think, make some difference for generative engines, sort of training generative engines.”

The verdict didn’t require Alphabet to sell Chrome because there wasn’t adequate proof the browser shored up Google’s monopoly.

“I think that Google has so many advantages, that to create a more competitive environment for other players, but not going that far [forcing a Chrome sale], doesn't really change the landscape all that much,” Goldman said.

Meanwhile, Alphabet is facing a potential forced sale of its ad exchange, AdX, in a separate case that began last month.

Listen to the full episode.