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Google this year offered to sell its advertising marketplace Ad Exchange, or AdX, to end an EU antitrust investigation. But European publishers rejected the proposal, Reuters reported this week.
The news agency cited two people with knowledge of the matter but did not name them.
Last year, the European Publishers Council launched a complaint against Google’s ad tech business. The European Commission subsequently charged the company with favouring its own advertising services.
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Publishers rejected Google’s proposal because they wanted it to sell off more than just AdX, the sources told Reuters. They said there were conflicts of interest in almost all levels of the advertising supply chain.
Ad exchanges are technology platforms that allows companies and advertisers to buy and sell ads electronically through online bidding. But Google’s dominance in Internet searches allows it to overcharge for ads, and also to monopolize the market.
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A Google spokesperson told the news agency: “The European Commission’s case about our third-party display advertising products rests on flawed interpretations of the ad-tech sector, which is fiercely competitive and rapidly evolving. We remain committed to this business.”
Neither the Commission nor the European Publishers commented.
AdX is part of Google’s Ad Manager product, which also contains an ad server known as DoubleClick for Publishers, or DFP. The company is currently on trial in the U.S., fighting claims by antitrust authorities who want it to sell Ad Manager.
Google has never before offered to sell an asset in an antitrust case, Reuters reported, citing three lawyers involved in antitrust cases who did not have permission to speak publicly.
Reuters said other sources suggested the Commission may order Google to stop its alleged anti-competitive practices in the coming months because of the complexity of the case.
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