• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 26, 2024

TD Cowen Analyst John Blackledge valued each of Alphabet's businesses as if they were separated from the company, as the Department of Justice decides the fate of Google and its parent company from several antitrust suits that have either concluded or are ongoing.

What would Alphabet be worth if it were broken into parts? Blackledge estimates that would mean significantly more money than its value now.

“Ongoing legal action opens up Alphabet to a wide range of potential longer-term remedies, including separation of one or more of its businesses,” Barron reported, citing the analyst based on information in a research note. “As a result, we expect investors to increasingly focus on biz segment valuations.”

Alphabet’s businesses in aggregate are estimates at $2.9 trillion, according to Blackledge’s midpoint base model, with Google Search estimates worth $1.7 trillion.

YouTube is worth $252 billion; Google Network is worth $78 billion; Google Cloud is worth $432 billion; and combined Google Subscriptions, Platforms, and Devices is worth $158 billion, the analyst estimates.

With search worth an estimated $1.7 trillion, it means the sum of the other businesses is $1.2 trillion, Barrons reported.

But the call to break up Google has gone on for years. Freedom From Facebook & Google launched a digital ad campaign in 2020 targeting Google employees, investors and analysts.

The group at the time called for the government to regulate Facebook and Google -- holding them accountable for “wrongdoing” -- and to reject their lobbyists and corporate donations.

While the advertising industry has been batting around that possibility for years, it all could come to a head after the next antitrust trial gets underway in September based on Google's ad business.

Recently, with on a judge’s ruling that Google violated antitrust laws, the hypothetical could become real.