Google (GOOGL.US) ad tech monopoly compensation case approved to proceed: publishers can claim over $3.2 billion in total damages

According to Jinse Finance, a federal judge in New York has ruled that USA Today Co., Daily Mail General and Trust Plc, as well as a collective of large publishers, may claim more than $3.2 billion in damages caused by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL.US), for monopolizing the ad-tech market.

In an opinion issued Wednesday night local time, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan stated he would allow a jury to consider how Google’s actions involving its advertising exchange platform AdX harmed major publishers.

He ruled that a group of around 5,000 publishers could claim approximately $1.7 billion from Google, and rejected Google’s objection to the damages calculation. He determined that USA Today and Daily Mail, which filed separate lawsuits, would be allowed to claim approximately $900 million and $600 million, respectively.

In a statement, Google noted the ruling also dismissed claims by some publishers who used different ad-buying tools, and said the company would “defend the remainder of the case in court.”

“This ruling allows USA Today Co. to continue pursuing its worldwide $1 billion damages claim (before treble damages under antitrust law), which represents a major victory and simplifies our path to recovery,” the company’s chief legal counsel Polly Grunfeld Sack said in a statement. “We are pleased with this outcome and look forward to proving our claims at trial.”

Philip Korologos, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, the law firm representing the publishers, said they look forward to presenting their claims at trial, when the collective will seek damages.

The U.S. Department of Justice and a group of state governments sued Google in 2023, accusing the company of illegally monopolizing several areas of ad technology—systems used to buy, sell, and place online display ads across numerous websites. A federal judge in Virginia found the company illegally monopolized two ad-tech markets and last month ruled that Google must make its ad-tech tools interoperable with rivals, but declined to order a breakup of the business.

The damages sought in this pending New York lawsuit relate to the same conduct. Castel has not yet scheduled a trial date. The case is In re: Google Digital Advertising Antitrust Litigation, No. 21-md-3010, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.