Google Chrome starts rollout of Split View

Source: Google

After being tested as an experimental feature, Google Chrome's Split View is coming to the stable version of the browser. As the name suggests, it lets you open two sites side by side in a single tab. A use case Google promotes is having a call on one window and Google Docs on another to take notes. While you can achieve a similar effect with two browser windows side by side, it offers another convenient way to have two windows up at once. (As a Microsoft Edge user, I'd like to point out that we've had a similar option for a while.)

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US court won't force Google to sell Chrome, Android

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A US court ruled that Google won't be required to sell its Chrome browser and Android operating system, but will need to share information with competitors. US District Judge Amit Mehta rejected the Department of Justice's request to break up Google through the sale of Chrome and Android. However, the decision bars the tech giant from having exclusive deals, positioning itself as the default search engine on its products, including Android and Chrome, along with third parties like Apple.

Before the ruling, it was revealed that Google paid companies billions of dollars to exclusively pre-load and promote its products. While they can't enter exclusive contracts, Google can still pay other companies to pre-load their products on different devices, noting it would cause "downstream harm" to cut off payments completely. Revenue-sharing deals will be limited to one-year periods.

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Yahoo is keen to buy Google's Chrome browser

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If the US Justice Department forces Google to sell its Chrome browser to remedy its search monopoly, Yahoo will be one of the companies in line looking to buy it. (The others include OpenAI and Perplexity.) In the meantime, the legacy search brand is developing a browser prototype. The company believes the browser could boost its search market share. And if it acquires Chrome, it estimates a jump to double digits from its current 3% share, since it believes that around 60% of search queries are done through web browsers, directly from the address bar. Buying the browser also means it cuts development time, which Yahoo Search General Manager Brian Provost believes takes six to nine months to develop its own.

Provost estimates the deal could cost tens of billions of dollars, but he believes that Yahoo's owner, Apollo Global Management, can help it secure funding. As The Verge pointed out, Apollo actually owns a browser brand, but Provost said it isn't an active browser. And you may know this brand, given it was embroiled in its own antitrust case. It's NetScape.

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Report: US DOJ seeks sweeping reforms for Google, including Chrome spin-off

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The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly escalating its antitrust case against Google, urging the presiding judge to order the tech giant to divest its Chrome browser, according to a report from Bloomberg. This drastic measure stems from the DOJ's assertion that Google has illegally monopolized the search market.

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