Shares of Google’s parent company soared to an all-time high Wednesday, a day after a federal court derailed the Justice Department’s (DOJ) attempt to break up the internet giant.
Alphabet stock was up more than 8 percent shortly before noon EDT Wednesday, breaking its previous record share price of $205. Shares of the company — which owns Google and YouTube, among other major tech names — are up more than 21 percent since the start of the year.
Google scored a major victory Tuesday when a federal judge declined to accept a DOJ plan that would have forced the company to sell off its Chrome web browser.
While Judge Amit Mehta had previously ruled Google to be operating an illegal monopoly over the internet search industry, he said the DOJ failed to show other potential solutions would be ineffective at curbing the company’s power.
“The Chrome default undoubtedly contributes to Google’s dominance in general search,” Mehta wrote. However, he added, “the complete divestiture of Chrome is a poor fit for this case.”
Mehta did side with the government on some provisions, requiring Google to make certain search index and user interaction data and search syndication services available to competitors.
Even so, the ruling was a significant win for Google amid a challenging year.
The tech giant suffered another setback in April when a separate judge ruled it had illegally monopolized advertising technology. In that case, the DOJ is also asking the court to force Google to sell off two of its advertising products.
Julia Shapero contributed.
