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PubMatic Sues Google, Seeks Billions Over Alleged Ad Tech Monopoly

By  |  September 8, 2025

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is facing another legal battle over its dominance in digital advertising, this time from PubMatic Inc., which filed a lawsuit seeking billions of dollars in damages. According to Bloomberg, the ad exchange accuses Google of maintaining an illegal monopoly that has hindered competition and innovation across the industry.

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    The case was lodged Monday in federal court in Virginia, marking the second such suit from an advertising exchange in recent months. It follows an April ruling by a federal judge that determined Google unlawfully monopolized two crucial segments of the advertising market: ad exchanges and ad servers, the technology websites rely on to sell ad space. Per Bloomberg, that earlier decision set the stage for a trial this month to determine whether Google will be forced to divest parts of its ad business.

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    PubMatic Chief Executive Officer Rajeev Goel said the lawsuit is about both financial damages and ensuring fair competition in online advertising. “It felt like for many years no matter how well we innovated there was a barrier holding us back,” Goel said in an interview. “That barrier wasn’t the limits of our technology. It was Google’s illegal monopoly. Every time we adapted or innovated, Google found new ways to stack the deck.”

    Read more: EU Hits Google With €2.95 Billion Fine Over Adtech Practices

    The company, which helps publishers like Elon Musk’s X sell advertising space, had once been considered a potential acquisition target for Google in 2011, according to testimony and documents presented in last year’s antitrust trial. Instead, Google opted to buy AdMeld, another advertising technology provider.

    The lawsuit adds to the mounting legal pressure Alphabet faces. Just last month, rival ad exchange OpenX Technologies Inc. also filed a case against Google in the same Virginia court. Meanwhile, Google is contending with a separate lawsuit led by Texas and other states, alongside numerous claims from advertisers and publishers in New York who allege they suffered damages from the same conduct. As Bloomberg notes, Google has asked that the OpenX case be moved to New York, though the judge has not yet issued a decision on that request.

    Source: Bloomberg