Breaking up Google an option being considered by US, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice is considering options that include breaking up Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google, a week after a judge ruled the tech giant illegally monopolized the online search market, according to Bloomberg News.

Shares of the California-based company were down about 3% at 1401 GMT on Wednesday, having fallen in after hours trading when Bloomberg published its report late on Tuesday.

A Justice Department spokesperson said it is evaluating the court’s decision and will assess the appropriate next steps consistent with the court’s direction and the applicable legal framework for antitrust remedies.

The spokesperson said no decisions have yet been made. A Google spokesperson declined to comment.

The verdict, delivered last week, held that Google violated antitrust law, spending billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly and become the world’s default search engine. The ruling is seen as the first big win for federal authorities taking on the market dominance of Big Tech.

The DOJ’s other options include forcing Google to share data with competitors and instating measures to prevent it from gaining an unfair advantage in AI products, Bloomberg’s report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Divesting the Android operating system was one of the remedies most frequently discussed by justice department attorneys, the report said.

Officials were also considering trying to force a possible sale of AdWords, Google’s search ad program, and a possible divestment of its Chrome web browser, according to the report.

Federal antitrust regulators have sued Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:) in the past four years, claiming the companies illegally maintained monopolies.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:) had settled with the DOJ in 2004 on claims it forced its Internet Explorer Web browser on Windows users.