• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 26, 2024

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said it could take many years to resolve Google’s antitrust battles and downplayed any possibility that the trials pose an immediate threat to the company’s technology businesses.

Pichai realizes that with the company’s scale and size, scrutiny from governments is inevitable.

“We disagree with the ruling, but we’re still in the middle of the remedy phase,” Pichai said. “We will appeal, and this process will likely take many years.”

The conversation took place during an interview with David Rubenstein for his show The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations published by Bloomberg TV.

The latest ruling acknowledges that Google is the “best” search engine, and Pichai is confident that the company can continue to innovate using technology.

Google also is battling an antitrust trial in an Alexandria, Virginia courtroom based on allegedly monopolizing online ad-technology tools in three markets connected to “open web display advertising” -- publisher ad servers, advertiser ad networks, and ad exchanges.

Google denies that it acted with anticompetitive behavior and contends that “open web display advertising” -- using banner ads on sites operated by news organizations and other online publishers -- is not a market.

Pichai said the situation will take time to play out. Where company executives believe it will harm Google’s ability to innovate on behalf of users, there will be strong efforts to defend the company, he added.