10 Stocks Leaving the Market in the Dust

2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Alphabet Inc. grew its share prices by 9.01 percent on Wednesday to end at $231.1 apiece as investors cheered a court ruling that spared the company from being forced to divest its search engine Google Chrome.

In his decision, US District Judge Amit Mehta sided with Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) following a landmark antitrust case that could have required the company to divest the search engine.

The legal case stemmed in 2020 after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), claiming that the latter violated the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by illegally monopolizing the search engine and search advertising markets.

Overseen by Judge Amit Mehta, the court began the trial in September 2023. In August 2024, he ruled that Google indeed abused its monopoly on search.

Three months later, the DOJ asked the court to force Google to divest Chrome, later countered by Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) with its own softer measures.

This month, Mehta officially ruled that Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) be spared from divesting its search engine, but said that the company must end exclusive search engine contracts.