Antitrust rulings proposed by the US Department of Justice could force Google to sell off Chrome, and one former iconic search engine giant could be waiting in the wings to purchase the browser.
Anti-competition laws are certainly a hot topic in the tech world right now, as both Apple and Meta are currently facing several hundred million dollar fines from the European Comission after breaching new digital marketplace rules, alongside Elon Musk's failure to prove antitrust measures between OpenAI and Microsoft.
Yet it's Google that faces potentially the most dangerous ruling of all, as the company is currently at risk of having to sell it's treasured Chrome browser after federal court orders claim that it needs to divest its 'illegal monopoly' over the industry.
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The company only recently prevailed in another antitrust case that allowed them to purchase cybersecurity startup 'Wiz' in a jaw-dropping $31 billion deal, but this new ruling could prove to be a major hit to Google's operations.
As reported by the Hindustan Times, Judge Amit Mehta ruled last year that Google possessed an illegal monopoly over the market, and that measures were needed to remedy this - among which is a suggestion that would force the company to sell off Chrome.
Understandably there are plenty of eager buyers desperate to snatch up one of the most valuable tools in the world of technology, and one of the leading figures is an iconic search engine that no doubt has a bone to pick with Google.
Testifying as part of the ongoing three-week-long Justice Department case against Google, Yahoo Search general manager Brian Provost revealed that the company is interested in purchasing Chrome if Google were obligated to sell up.
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Provost argued that Chrome is "arguably the most important strategic player on the web," adding that "we would be able to pursue it with Apollo."
Yahoo was most recently bought out by Apollo Global Management for roughly $5 billion in 2021, and the company has began to build their own browser - so the purchase of Chrome would be a monumental step that could lift the former giant back up to the top of the food chain.
It certainly won't be cheap either, as even through a forced sale Chrome would rightfully command a price in the tens of billions of dollars, if not more, and such an attractive deal has already caught the attention of competitors.
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OpenAI's ChatGPT chief Nick Turley revealed that the AI giant would be one of 'many other parties' that would be willing to pick up Chrome if it became available, and they might prove to be a more attractive option than Yahoo for the average user.
"Yahoo would run Chrome into the ground," writes on comment on Reddit in response to the news, and you only need to look as far as their catastrophic acquisition of Tumblr to see a pessimistic side to any Yahoo-fuelled buyout.
Another comment points out that "Y! turned down an offer to buy Google for $1M in 1998, and then a second time for $5B in 2002. They'll find a way to f*** up this deal, too."
Many are even surprised that Yahoo still exists in 2025, which perhaps only adds further weight to the anti-competitive arguments that the Department of Justice are putting forward.