The biggest winner from the Google antitrust decision? Its AI rivals.

Core Viewpoint - The Department of Justice's ruling against Google clarifies the landscape of competition in the search engine market, allowing Google to maintain some partnerships while restricting exclusive contracts [1][2][9]. Winners - Google benefits from the ruling as it is not required to sell off its Chrome browser, which is crucial for directing users to Google Search [4][8]. - Apple continues to receive significant payments from Google, approximately $20 billion in 2022, to remain the default search engine on iPhones, which constitutes about 20% of Apple's annual services revenue [11][12]. - The ruling may facilitate further collaboration between Apple and Google in AI, particularly regarding the Gemini AI partnership [13]. Losers - Competitors of Google's Chrome browser, such as Microsoft's Edge and Apple's Safari, face challenges as Chrome remains a dominant player with over 3 billion monthly active users, supported by Google's resources [16][17]. - The inability to displace Chrome means that rivals will struggle to gain market share in the browser space, as demonstrated by Perplexity's failed bid to acquire Chrome [17]. - AI startups like OpenAI and Perplexity may benefit from Google's requirement to share search data, enhancing their competitive offerings [15].