Back in 1999, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were just two awkward college students with a big idea – Google. Their aversion to reporters and lack of social skills didn’t deter them from pursuing their vision of a search engine that would revolutionize the internet.
Fast forward to today, and Google, now known as Alphabet, reigns as a tech giant worth trillions. However, their journey wasn’t without controversy. A recent ruling by US federal district court judge Amit P. Mehta found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws – a far cry from its humble beginnings.
The rise of Google from underdog to monopolist mirrors the trajectory of other tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. These companies started small but grew into behemoths through a combination of innovative products, fierce competition, and network effects.
Judge Mehta’s ruling sheds light on Google’s questionable practices, including spending billions on deals with Apple and Mozilla to secure default search engine placement. While a dominant product isn’t illegal, maintaining a monopoly through anti-competitive measures is. Google, it seems, has crossed that line.