• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

USA Today Co. publisher of 200 newspapers and USA Today, has clarified remarks CEO Michael Reed made about the company’s litigation with Google during an investor call on May 5.  

The firm said that Reed “characterized amounts as estimated damages in relation to the Company's ongoing litigation with Google instead of characterizing such amounts as Google's interference with the Company's revenues," USA Today Co. said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “The Company clarifies that it has not publicly disclosed, reported, or quantified any estimate of damages in connection with this litigation.” 

That said, the company added that “consistent with the frequently asked questions and responses regarding the action that are posted on the Company's website and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, we continue to believe that Google has interfered with billions of dollars in revenue over billions of ad auctions and we anticipate very substantial damages, even before the automatic trebling provided by U.S. antitrust law."

It claimed that those “estimations come directly from Google documents, when Google was studying how badly it was harming publishers.”

It was not clear at deadline what impact, if any, Reed’s comments and the clarification will have on resolution of the damages and closing of the case. However, the company obviously felt that Reed’s comments might be misinterpreted and sought to reassure the SEC.   

You may recall that USA Today Co.—then called Gannett—sued Google in 2023, alleging that Google was monopolizing advertising technology markets, violating U.S. antitrust and consumer protection laws and employing “deceptive commercial practices.”  

Last October, U.S. District Court Judge P. Kevin Castel granted partial judgment for Gannett and its fellow plaintiffs, including The Daily Mail, digital media company Inform and a proposed class of smaller publishers, USA Today reported at the time. 

In the interim, Google lost a case filed against it by the U.S. Department of Justice. 

The tech giant illegally acted to protect its monopoly over systems that place ads, harming publishers, U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled, according to an account by USA Today.  

“In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web,” Brinkema wrote, according to The New York Times.  

However, she dismissed one of the three claims against Google, regarding the tools used by advertisers. Brinkema stated that the DOJ failed to prove there was a real market.  

Castel wrote, "Judge Brinkema's findings of fact and conclusions of law are precise and concise.”

Google has steadfastly denied the allegations in all the cases.