Technology

Google’s loss to Epic will likely have little impact in the near-term

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2023

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The logo of Google Play is seen on a screen.

Alexander Pohl | NurPhoto | Getty Images

A federal jury decided on Monday that Google’s app store has benefited from anticompetitive behavior, but it could take a long time before the company faces any potential changes to the Google Play store, and those changes are unlikely to hurt revenue significantly. That said, the ruling could give more ammunition to other antitrust cases against the company, even though those cases will likely take years to reach a resolution.

Epic Games originally sued Google in 2020, alleging it uses its dominant position as the developer of Android to strike deals with handset makers and collect excess fees from consumers. Google collects between 15% and 30% for all digital purchases made through its storefront. Epic tried to bypass those fees by charging users directly for purchases in the popular game Fortnite; Google then booted the game out of its store, spurring the lawsuit.

After a four-week trial in a northern California federal court Monday, a jury unanimously found that Google had acquired and maintained monopoly power in the Android app distribution market, as well as the in-app billing market for digital goods and services transactions. Epic filed a similar suit against Apple but lost in federal appeals court in April.

In an interview with CNBC, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney attributed the win to revelations during the trial that Google had allegedly deleted or failed to keep records such as chats about its secretive deals with app makers. He also noted that it had been a jury trial, while the Apple case was decided by a judge.

The decision comes as Google faces two separate Justice Department suits in Virginia and Washington, D.C., related to allegedly anticompetitive behavior.

Judge James Donato of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California will decide on remedies in the next phase in the coming months. Google could be forced to change its Play Store rules, which is what Epic asked for as opposed to monetary relief.

What’s at stake?

The company doesn’t break out Google Play revenue separately, but it is included in its “Google Services” segment, which brought in $67.99 billion in the third quarter of 2023 — an increase from $61.38 billion the year prior. It earns money from consumer in-app purchases and subscriptions.

A Wells Fargo analyst note Tuesday estimates Google will book $38.5 billion in Google Play Store billings in 2023. That’s about 13% of the company’s total expected revenue of $305.7 billion for the year, according to estimates from LSEG (formerly Refinitiv).

Epic’s victory could force Google to change its app store billing model, so it could no longer force app makers to use Google’s billing system as a condition for distribution through the Play Store.

It could also force Google to make changes to its Android commission, where it charges a 15% to 30% fee on digital goods and services purchased within apps.

The court could force Google give other app stores more exposure on its Android ecosystem, which has the largest share of the smartphone operating system market worldwide. The Google Play Store comes preinstalled on most Android devices, but users can install alternate stores manually. The court could require Google to allow other app stores equal footing on third-party devices, prevent Google from restricting distribution of those app stores, or take other measures to make sure consumers had alternatives.

In addition, the information that came to light during the trial could give third parties more negotiating leverage, argued KeyBanc analysts in a note late Monday night.

During the trial, Epic Games called a Google executive who testified that Google gave Spotify a special rate on Google Play subscription purchases — only 4%, versus 15% for others.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney told CNBC Tuesday “I think it’s going to be impossible for Google Business Development to avoid giving everybody the Spotify deal at this point, and we’ll see, I hope, I hope journalists give that a good amount of scrutiny.”

Other financial information also came out during the trial. For instance, Pichai revealed that Google pays Apple 36% of Safari search revenue under the terms of a default search agreement that is core to the Justice Department’s separate antitrust claims. Epic’s attorney then alleged that Google pays Samsung, Android’s largest hardware partner, less than half of what it pays to Apple. Pichai replied that while he didn’t know for certain, it was possible.

A long journey ahead

It will be a while before any potential changes come to pass.

Google denied any wrongdoing and says it will appeal the verdict, so it could be tied up in appeals court for years.

“The trial made clear that we compete fiercely with Apple and its App Store, as well as app stores on Android devices and gaming consoles,” wrote Wilson White, VP, Government Affairs & Public Policy in a statement. “We will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners, and the broader Android ecosystem.”

Analysts noted Tuesday they expect a multi-year process before any changes would likely come to pass. “Google’s epic loss is much ado about nothing,” wrote Needham analysts.

Worst case scenario, Needham analysts argued, was that “Google loses all appeals and must add competitors, though it’s unclear consumers would move,” they stipulated. “Also, Google could charge new competitors to the Play store a revenue share of 15%+ so that the new competitors would have to charge consumers higher fees that includes Google’s ‘overhead’ charge.”

However, the verdict does have the potential to arm separate antitrust action against the search giant — ones that are closer to the heart of the company’s core revenue streams. Some analysts have noted that the loss for Google could influence an ongoing similar case brought by the Department of Justice.

Investors are awaiting more details of potential remedies to react strongly one way or another. Alphabet’s stock barely moved upon news of the verdict, and closed down less than 1% on Tuesday.

CNBC Tech Reporter Kif Leswing contributed to this report.

Technology

Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Published

12 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Chief executive officer of Google Sundar Pichai.

Marek Antoni Iwanczuk | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Google on Friday made the latest a splash in the AI talent wars, announcing an agreement to bring in Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence coding startup Windsurf.

As part of the deal, Google will also hire other senior Windsurf research and development employees. Google is not investing in Windsurf, but the search giant will take a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, according to a person familiar with the matter. Windsurf remains free to license its technology to others.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an email. “We’re excited to continue bringing the benefits of Gemini to software developers everywhere.”

The deal between Google and Windsurf comes after the AI coding startup had been in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, CNBC reported in April. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move ratchets up the talent war in AI particularly among prominent companies. Meta has made lucrative job offers to several employees at OpenAI in recent weeks. Most notably, the Facebook parent added Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment into his startup.

Douglas Chen, another Windsurf co-founder, will be among those joining Google in the deal, Jeff Wang, the startup’s new interim CEO and its head of business for the past two years, wrote in a post on X.

“Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise,” Wang wrote.

Windsurf has become more popular this year as an option for so-called vibe coding, which is the process of using new age AI tools to write code. Developers and non-developers have embraced the concept, leading to more revenue for Windsurf and competitors, such as Cursor, which OpenAI also looked at buying. All the interest has led investors to assign higher valuations to the startups.

This isn’t the first time Google has hired select people out of a startup. It did the same with Character.AI last summer. Amazon and Microsoft have also absorbed AI talent in this fashion, with the Adept and Inflection deals, respectively.

Microsoft is pushing an agent mode in its Visual Studio Code editor for vibe coding. In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said AI is composing as much of 30% of his company’s code.

The Verge reported the Google-Windsurf deal earlier on Friday.

WATCH: Google pushes “AI Mode” on homepage

Technology

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang sells more than $36 million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Published

21 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Nvidia's Jensen Huang sells more than million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, holds a motherboard as he speaks during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 11, 2025.

Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unloaded roughly $36.4 million worth of stock in the leading artificial intelligence chipmaker, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The sale, which totals 225,000 shares, comes as part of Huang’s previously adopted plan in March to unload up to 6 million shares of Nvidia through the end of the year. He sold his first batch of stock from the agreement in June, equaling about $15 million.

Last year, the tech executive sold about $700 million worth of shares as part of a prearranged plan. Nvidia stock climbed about 1% Friday.

Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed as investors bet on Nvidia’s AI dominance and graphics processing units powering large language models.

The 62-year-old’s wealth has grown by more than a quarter, or about $29 billion, since the start of 2025 alone, based on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. His net worth last stood at $143 billion in the index, putting him neck-and-neck with Berkshire Hathaway‘s Warren Buffett at $144 billion.

Shortly after the market opened Friday, Fortune‘s analysis of net worth had Huang ahead of Buffett, with the Nvidia CEO at $143.7 billion and the Oracle of Omaha at $142.1 billion.

Tesla to officially launch in India with planned showroom opening

Published

23 hours ago

July 11, 2025

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Tesla to officially launch in India with planned showroom opening

Elon Musk meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Blair House in Washington DC, USA on February 13, 2025.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Tesla will open a showroom in Mumbai, India next week, marking the U.S. electric carmakers first official foray into the country.

The one and a half hour launch event for the Tesla “Experience Center” will take place on July 15 at the Maker Maxity Mall in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, according to an event invitation seen by CNBC.

Along with the showroom display, which will feature the company’s cars, Tesla is also likely to officially launch direct sales to Indian customers.

The automaker has had its eye on India for a while and now appears to have stepped up efforts to launch locally.

In April, Tesla boss Elon Musk spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss collaboration in areas including technology and innovation. That same month, the EV-maker’s finance chief said the company has been “very careful” in trying to figure out when to enter the market.

Tesla has no manufacturing operations in India, even though the country’s government is likely keen for the company to establish a factory. Instead the cars sold in India will need to be imported from Tesla’s other manufacturing locations in places like Shanghai, China, and Berlin, Germany.

As Tesla begins sales in India, it will come up against challenges from long-time Chinese rival BYD, as well as local player Tata Motors.

One potential challenge for Tesla comes by way of India’s import duties on electric vehicles, which stand at around 70%. India has tried to entice investment in the country by offering companies a reduced duty of 15% if they commit to invest $500 million and set up manufacturing locally.

HD Kumaraswamy, India’s minister for heavy industries, told reporters in June that Tesla is “not interested” in manufacturing in the country, according to a Reuters report.

Tesla is looking to recruit roles in Mumbai, job listings posted on LinkedIn . These include advisors working in showrooms, security, vehicle operators to collect data for its Autopilot feature and service technicians.

There are also roles being advertised in the Indian capital of New Delhi, including for store managers. It’s unclear if Tesla is planning to launch a showroom in the city.