Sundar Pichai says Google’s antitrust battles will drag on ‘for years’

Google will be embroiled in lawsuits for “many years” as it tries to avoid reprisals in two major federal antitrust cases targeting its business model, CEO Sundar Pichai admitted in a new interview.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in August that Google has an illegal monopoly on internet search, controlling 90% of the market.

The case is currently in the corrections phase. Mehta is expected to make a decision on the sentence by next summer.

Asked about the judge’s ruling during an upcoming episode of Bloomberg’s “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations,” Pichai said, “We strongly disagree with the ruling, but it’s still in the remedies phase.”

“We will appeal, and that process will likely take many years,” Pichai added.

Elsewhere, Google is currently in court, fighting a separate DOJ case that alleges it operates a “trifecta of monopolies” through its control of digital advertising platforms used by advertisers and publishers, as well as the online marketplace that connects them. It will likely be months before Judge Leonie Brinkema issues a ruling in the case.

“I think we will find constructive solutions if we can find them,” Pichai said.

“If we believe this truly harms our ability to innovate on behalf of our users, we will defend ourselves vigorously,” Pichai added. “It will take some time for that to happen.”

Several Wall Street analysts have already warned that Google is unlikely to emerge unscathed from the antitrust conflicts, with one telling clients that the tech company is entering a period of “significant uncertainty” in the near future.

Critics of the company say the antitrust action is necessary to prevent Google from further strengthening its monopoly as it invests in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

Pichai downplayed the risk, arguing that regulatory scrutiny was inevitable due to the scale of the company’s operations.

He stressed that the recent decision by a European Union court to overturn the $1.7 billion fine imposed on the company had been almost 10 years in the making.

Google shares were unchanged Wednesday morning.

In both cases, federal authorities are expected to seek to break up the Google empire, potentially leading to the collapse of a company that had revenue of more than $307 billion last year.

Google denies all allegations, arguing that it faces strong competition and customers choose its products because of their quality.

The company could soon face another setback in the EU, where regulators are reportedly warning Google that it must change its search business practices or face hefty fines under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.