Google Trial 2.0: Exec Boasted of Goal to 'Crush' Digital Ad Rivals

A Google executive’s remarks from 2009 about the company’s aim to “crush” competitors in the digital advertising market have come to light during an ongoing federal antitrust trial against the tech giant that focuses on its stranglehold over the ad-tech industry.

The New York Post reports that during the third day of the non-jury federal antitrust trial targeting Google, the Justice Department presented evidence revealing a former Google executive’s bold statements about the company’s strategy in the digital advertising market. The trial alleges that Google abused its control over digital market technology to siphon revenue from publishers and advertisers.

According to documents reviewed in court, David Rosenblatt, Google’s former president of display advertising, told co-workers in 2009 that the company’s goal for its growing online advertising business was to “crush” rivals in the digital ad market. “We’ll be able to crush the other networks and that’s our goal,” Rosenblatt said.

The Justice Department argues that Google operates a “trifecta of monopolies” through its control of tools on both the buy and sell side of digital ad deals, as well as the marketplace that connects businesses to advertisers. The complaint alleges that Google drains more than a third of every dollar spent through its ad platforms.

Rosenblatt, who joined Google after its acquisition of digital ad software firm DoubleClick in 2007, reportedly bragged about the advantage provided by the company’s control of tools on all sides of the ad ecosystem. In the notes discussed at trial, he wrote, “We’re both Goldman and NYSE. … Google has created what’s comparable to the NYSE or London Stock Exchange; in other words, we’ll do to display what Google did to search.”

The former Google executive also admitted that it was a “nightmare” for publishers to try to switch to other ad platforms, stating that it “takes an act of God to do it.” Former Google executive Brad Bender, who testified on the witness stand, said he had forwarded Rosenblatt’s notes to his team at the time, describing them as a “worthwhile read.”

Digital advertising makes up the majority of Google’s total revenue, which surpassed $307 billion in the previous year alone. The trial, being decided by US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, comes after the judge criticized Google during a pre-trial hearing for implementing a policy that automatically deleted employee chat records that should have been preserved.

The Justice Department has requested that the court break up Google’s adtech business, including a forced divestment of its Ad Manager product. Google, however, argues that the DOJ’s case is based on a misunderstanding of how the digital ad market functions and that court intervention could cause chaos in the market while empowering rivals like Amazon and Meta.

This antitrust trial is just one of the challenges Google is currently facing. In a separate case last month, a federal judge ruled that Google operates an illegal monopoly over online search. The DOJ is expected to pursue a breakup of Google during the remedy phase of that case as well.