DOJ’s case against Google likely won’t go to trial until late 2023, judge says

The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google is unlikely to go to trial until the end of 2023, Judge Amit Mehta said in a status hearing on Friday.

Both sides agreed that seemed like a likely timeline, and the judge set September 12, 2023 as a tentative date for the trial to begin.

The proposed timeline shows how long Google (and possibly Facebook) will fight the US government’s antitrust challenges. Google is now facing three trials from different groups of states and the DOJ, some of which may be brought together before the same judge.

This means both that scrutiny of Google’s business will likely remain in the limelight for several years, and any potentially court-ordered changes would also take a long time. In the short term, this is good news for investors, who don’t have to worry about immediate structural changes that could hurt the value of the company, such as splits of key divisions. But it also means that Google will face a major distraction and may be hesitant to enter new areas of business and make big acquisitions in the years to come.

Mehta had indicated in previous status hearings that he wanted the case to move quickly. But the proposed timeline shows that even a relatively rapid process can take years. A DOJ lawyer estimated the trial could last 10 to 12 weeks, although a Google lawyer said he expected it to take much less time assuming the case to go to trial. Mehta said he set the plus / minus line at five and a half weeks.

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