SAN FRANCISCO (Agefi-Dow Jones)–The recent unfavorable court decision against Google in a major antitrust trial in the United States is bad news for the credit metrics of its parent company Alphabet, as well as for Apple, the rating agency Moody’s Ratings said Wednesday.
Found guilty of abusing monopolistic practices in the Internet search market, Google “risks having to change its highly profitable business model, which placed it in a strong position in targeted advertising,” Moody’s analysts said in a note.
The move also bodes ill for Apple, which could “lose a substantial revenue stream,” according to Moody’s.
The judge in charge of the case has not yet imposed any sanctions on Google. But competition law experts say the practice of paying Apple and other companies to make Google the default search engine on their devices is likely to be banned.
Google declined to comment. Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
Moody’s took no action Wednesday on Alphabet and Apple’s credit ratings, but those factors could influence its next decisions.
-Miles Kruppa, The Wall Street Journal (Version française Thomas Varela)
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August 07, 2024 17:11 ET (21:11 GMT)