Alphabet Inc-CL CIt may soon be hit by another blow from the US government's antitrust regulator.
After US stocks traded on Wednesday, EST, media reported that US antitrust officials were preparing another antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc-CL C's digital advertising business, and the Justice Department accelerated the pace of investigation and could file an appeal as soon as the end of this year.
If the news is true, this will be the second antitrust charge Alphabet Inc-CL C faces in the field of digital advertising in the United States. The Ministry of Justice has been censoring Alphabet Inc-CL C and Facebook IncAlphabet Inc-CL C is currently going to court with the Ministry of Justice around web search.
After the news, Alphabet Inc-CL C's A shares, which closed up nearly 0.4 per cent on Tuesday, quickly fell in after-hours trading, falling more than 0.4 per cent at one point.
Lawsuits in the field of digital advertising undoubtedly pose a threat to Alphabet Inc-CL C. As we all know, Alphabet Inc-CL C is by far the largest online advertising company in the world, with revenue of about $147 billion last year. Facebook Inc, the closest competitor to Alphabet Inc-CL C, earned only about $83 billion last year, about 56 per cent of Alphabet Inc-CL C's income.
Previously released financial results show that Alphabet Inc-CL C's advertising revenue, including Alphabet Inc-CL C search, YouTube and Alphabet Inc-CL C network, exceeded 50.4 billion US dollars in the second quarter of this year, an increase of nearly 69 per cent over the same period last year, double the growth rate in the first quarter. Advertising revenue accounted for more than 81 per cent of the total revenue of Alphabet Inc-CL C's parent company Alphabet in that quarter. Facebook Inc's advertising revenue in the second quarter was $28.58 billion, about half of Alphabet Inc-CL C's, and the year-on-year growth rate was 56% lower than Alphabet Inc-CL C's.
Source: Wall Street