According to Bloomberg , the US Department of Justice is seeking to force Google to sell its Chrome browser. Chrome's fate rests in the hands of Judge Amit Mehta, who in August declared Google's monopoly in the search market illegal.

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The Chrome browser is a gateway to many other Google services. Photo: Bloomberg

Judge Mehta stated that Alphabet – Google's parent company – paid a total of $26 billion in 2021 to make Chrome the default option on smartphones and computers, hindering other competitors. According to the judge, no one has been able to challenge Google's dominance for more than a decade.

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice wants Judge Mehta to make demands regarding AI and Google's Android operating system.

Alphabet has a market capitalization of over $2 trillion, largely thanks to Google's highly profitable advertising business, according to Judge Mehta.

Chrome is the most popular web browser in the US with a 61% market share, according to web traffic analytics firm StatCounter. Google Search holds over 88% of the search engine market share in this region.

Google also uses Chrome to direct users to Gemini, its AI chatbot.

If Judge Mehta agrees with the Justice Department's proposal, Chrome would be worth at least $15-$20 billion considering its more than 3 billion monthly users, according to Bloomberg .

Techalysis Research analyst Bob O'Donnell commented that this isn't money earned directly from Chrome, but rather Chrome acts as a gateway to everything else.

Meanwhile, Google's Vice President of Legal Affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, argued that the Justice Department's approach threatens consumers, developers, and America's technological leadership at a time when it is most needed.

(According to USA Today)