Google faces US$3.2bil damage claims on ad-tech monopoly

USA Today, Daily Mail General and Trust and a class of large publishers can seek more than US$3.2 billion in damages for harm caused by monopolisation of advertising technology markets by Alphabet’s Google, a New York federal judge ruled.

In an opinion late Wednesday, US district judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan said he will allow jury trials to move forward on how Google’s conduct related to its AdX advertising exchange harmed major publishers.

A class of about 5,000 publishers can pursue about US$1.7 billion in damages from Google, he ruled, rejecting a bid by the company to contest the damage calculations. USA Today and Daily Mail, who each sued separately, will be allowed to seek about US$900 million and US$600 million, respectively, he found.

In a statement, Google said the ruling also dismissed claims by some publishers who used a different ad-buying tool and that it will “defend the rest in court.”

“The ruling allows USA Today Co. to pursue its US$1 billion in worldwide damages (before trebling under the antitrust laws), a significant victory that streamlines our path to recovery,” Polly Grunfeld Sack, the company’s chief legal counsel, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We are pleased with this result and look forward to proving our claims at trial.”

Philip Korologos, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP who is representing the publishers, said they look forward to presenting the claims at trial where the class will seek to recover damages.

The US justice department and a group of states sued Google in 2023, accusing the company of illegally monopolising several areas of the advertising technology used to buy, sell and serve the online display ads that appear on many websites.

A federal judge in Virginia found that that the company illegally monopolised two advertising technology markets and ruled last month that Google must make its ad tech tools work with those operated by rivals, but declined to order a breakup of the business.

The lawsuits pending in New York seek damages related to the same conduct. Castel hasn’t yet scheduled a trial date.

USA Today and the Daily Mail didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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