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Rani Molla

The many ways the DOJ wants to break up Google’s search monopoly

The Department of Justice has now officially asked a federal court to make Google sell its Chrome browser as a way to remedy the tech behemoth's search monopoly. And that’s just the beginning. The government is also asking for a number of other solutions. Here are the big ones:

  • Sell the Chrome browser — if it can 

  • Sell Android, or at least stop giving preference to Google’s search product on Android phones

  • Stop exclusionary agreements with companies like Apple and Samsung, where Google pays those companies billions to be the default search engine

  • Give rivals the ability to access Google’s search index in order to help build their own AI and to opt out of having their data used to train AI

  • Prohibit acquisitions of any “search rivals, potential entrants, and rival search or search ad-related AI products, and it must immediately divest any such interests it owns.” 

But as we’ve explained before, these demands are a bit of theater. The DOJ is likely asking for more extreme remedies than it thinks the court will ultimately grant, in order to force Google to some sort of middle ground.

As Cornell University law professor and antitrust expert George Hay told us, when the remedy was just to divest Chrome, “The chances of getting a judge to agree to something this dramatic aren’t great.”

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Max Knoblauch

Big four airlines sink as Transportation Secretary Duffy says parts of US airspace could close if shutdown continues

The US may close parts of its airspace as early as next week if the government shutdown continues, according to comments made by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday.

“If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it,” Duffy said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

The shutdown, which entered its 35th day on Tuesday, has fueled already problematic shortages of air traffic controllers. This week, airlines said 3.2 million passengers have faced delays or cancellations because of the shortages. Last week, about 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA agents received their first $0 paycheck amid the shutdown.

Shares of the big four US airlines all sank on Duffy’s comments, with United Airlines, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines all down more than 5%.

power
Jon Keegan

Trump’s deal offering top Nvidia chips to China was nixed at last minute, the WSJ reports

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, really wants to sell the chipmaker’s most powerful Blackwell GPUs to China. He almost had his way.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, President Trump was ready to put Blackwell chips on the negotiating table for his meeting with Chinese President Xi to seek relief from China’s decision to block crucial rare earth exports to the US.

But according to the report, Trump advisers presented a unified front and were able to dissuade him from giving up the most powerful chips to China at the last minute. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were among those opposed to the chip deal. After the meeting, Trump said he did not talk with Xi about Nvidia’s “super duper” chips.

Reportedly those opposed to the deal cited national security concerns, as well as wanting to keep a competitive edge as China seeks to challenge the US’s current dominance of the AI industry.

Exclusive | Trump Officials Torpedoed Nvidia’s Push to Export AI Chips to China

Exclusive | Trump Officials Torpedoed Nvidia’s Push to Export AI Chips to China

But according to the report, Trump advisers presented a unified front and were able to dissuade him from giving up the most powerful chips to China at the last minute. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were among those opposed to the chip deal. After the meeting, Trump said he did not talk with Xi about Nvidia’s “super duper” chips.

Reportedly those opposed to the deal cited national security concerns, as well as wanting to keep a competitive edge as China seeks to challenge the US’s current dominance of the AI industry.

Walt Hickey
shutdown watch
10/21/25
Traders are getting more and more pessimistic about the government shutdown ending any time soon

The market expects the shutdown to last well into November.

The Capitol Building in Washington DC
Jon Keegan
10/10/25
OpenAI’s internal Slack messages could cost it billions in copyright suit

Authors and publishers suing OpenAI over copyright infringement were granted access to internal OpenAI communications about the deletion of a pirated books dataset, and now want to review attorney communications.

Frightened Man
Max Knoblauch
10/9/25
US corporate spending on private flights for executives has ballooned in recent years

The median expense spent by America’s largest companies on air travel jumped 66% from 2020 to 2024.

1990s Business man private jet

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