Alphabet Pops 9% After Antitrust Win

Alphabet (GOOGL, Financials) just dodged its biggest legal threat in years and Wall Street loved it.

A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled that the company won't be forced to break up, ending months of uncertainty over whether regulators would try to dismantle Google's search empire. The stock responded with a 9% surge Wednesday, its biggest one-day gain in years, adding about $210 billion to Alphabet's market cap.

Judge Amit Mehta said Google can keep Chrome and Android but must stop some exclusive contracts that shut out competitors. Importantly, the court let Google continue paying Apple (AAPL) billions to feature its search engine on iPhones a deal that remains one of the most profitable partnerships in tech. Apple stock climbed nearly 4% on the news.

The ruling removes the worst-case scenario for Google while keeping some pressure on its business model. Regulators still want the company to share parts of its search index with rivals, which could help AI challengers train their systems. But analysts say the remedies are narrow and won't meaningfully dent Google's dominance.

For investors, the relief was clear. Alphabet shares hit an intraday record of $231.31 and are now up 22% this year, outpacing the S&P 500. Even so, the stock still trades cheaper than other Magnificent Seven peers, giving it more room to run if AI bets like Gemini pay off.

The bottom line: Google lives to fight another day intact, profitable, and still the default search engine on your iPhone.