Alphabet Stock Surges as Google Gets to Keep Chrome

In his final ruling on the antitrust suit brought against Google by the US Department of Justice, US District Court Judge for the District of Columbia Amit Mehta rejected as remedies - proposed by DOJ- (1) forcing the sale of Chrome, and (2) requiring Google to cease getting large payments from Apple, Samsung and other device manufacturers for using Google as their default search engine.

Alphabet investors saw this result as just a slap on the wrist for Google, sending the stock up by 8%.

But also per Judge Mehta's ruling, Google must share its index and user interaction data with competitors. This change has the potential to enable competitors to develop better search algorithms and ultimately take search share from Google.

Google is expected to appeal the ruling, but avoiding the Chrome sale is clearly a victory for Alphabet.

Will competitors be able to take advantage of the break they've been given? Stay tuned.