The vultures are circling for Chrome

It's the perfect phrase for the moment, right?

- MARK HACHMAN

Google has a monopoly, and that's the official line of the US federal government. In fact, it has two of them (fave.co/4jHRORz), losing two separate antitrust cases that threaten to cripple the tech giant. The Department of Justice has proposed forcing Google to sell or otherwise divest itself of the Chrome browser as the first and preferred remedy.

But who would buy it? Unsurprisingly, there are beaucoup business beaus lining up around the block for this browser bachelorette. We've already heard that ChatGPT maker OpenAI is very interested (fave.co/4jM2JKh), as testified in court by an executive. And another notable name in the AI space, search engine Perplexity, told a judge much the same thing (fave.co/4jFAgWI). Bloomberg reports that Yahoo, which almost feels like legacy media at this point, would also be interested (fave.co/436L5tk) if Chrome becomes available.

That's three potential new homes for the world’s most popular browser. But it's important to note that federal judge Amit Mehta hasn't yet made a determination on how Google will be punished for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. Just because prosecutors suggest breaking off Chrome doesn’t mean he'll agree it’s an appropriate end. And whatever happens, Google will certainly exhaust its legal options with enough money to make Solomon blush. Google losing control of Chrome is not a foregone conclusion, even if it feels that way from recent reports.