A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Google can keep its Chrome browser but will be barred from exclusive contracts and must share search data.

Alphabet shares popped 6% in extended trading.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled against the most severe consequences that were proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice, including selling off its Chrome browser, which provides data that helps its advertising business deliver targeted ads. 

“Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision states. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.”

The company can make payments to preload products, but they cannot have exclusive contracts, the decision showed.

The DOJ asked Google to stop the practice of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones. 

Google pays Apple billions of dollars per year to be the default search engine on iPhones. It’s lucrative for Apple and a valuable way for Google to get more search volume and users.

Apple shares rose 4% on Tuesday after hours.

“Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products. Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial—in some cases, crippling—downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban.”

In a landmark case filed in 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that Google kept its share of the general search market by creating strong barriers to entry and a feedback loop that sustained its dominance.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in August 2024 that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which outlaws monopolies, saying the company has held an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search.

Mehta oversaw the remedies trial in May, where the two parties proposed penalties that should be taken against Google as a result of the monopoly ruling. During that trial, the DOJ asked the judge to force Google to share the data it uses for generating search results, such as data about what users click on.

Google said it will appeal the ruling, which would delay any potential penalties.

OpenAI continued its spending spree, announcing on Tuesday that it has acquired Statsig, a product development startup, for $1.1 billion.

Statsig helps OpenAI and other companies test features and use real-time data in their operations. As part of the acquisition, Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji is joining OpenAI as technology chief in the applications unit. He will report to Fidji Simo, the former Instacart CEO who was tapped to lead OpenAI’s applications business⁠ in May.

“Working with the incredible team at OpenAI to build AI-powered experiences at scale for people and businesses is a rare and meaningful opportunity,” Raji wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “Doing that with the help of tools we built at Statsig makes it even more special.”

Statsig will continue to operate independently and serve customers out of its Seattle office, OpenAI said. The acquisition is still subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

“Vijaye has a remarkable record of building new consumer and B2B products and systems at scale,” Simo said in a statement. 

OpenAI has been buying aggressively of late, putting some of the hefty cash pile it’s raised and the soaring value of its stock to use to fuel growth in new areas. Its biggest splash came in May, when OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s AI devices startup IO for close to $6.5 billion in an all-equity deal that pushes the company firmly into hardware. Prior to that, OpenAI acquired analytics database company Rockset for an undisclosed sum in 2024.

Earlier this year, OpenAI had planned to buy AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf for $3 billion, but a deal never materialized, and Google ended up bringing on the startup’s co-founder as part of a $2.4 billion licensing deal.

“The journey with Statsig has been deeply gratifying, leading me to this moment and giving me conviction that we will continue helping teams ship better software every day,” Raji said in a statement.

Anthropic on Tuesday announced it has closed a $13 billion funding round at a $183 billion post-money valuation, roughly triple what the artificial intelligence startup was worth as of its last raise in March.

The most recent funding round was led by Iconiq, Fidelity Management & Research Company and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Other investors including Altimeter, General Catalyst and Coatue also participated, Anthropic said.

“This financing demonstrates investors’ extraordinary confidence in our financial performance and the strength of their collaboration with us to continue fueling our unprecedented growth,” Anthropic finance chief Krishna Rao said in a statement.

Anthropic’s valuation has been on a steep climb since it announced its AI assistant Claude in March 2023. The Amazon-backed startup was founded by former OpenAI research executives, including its CEO Dario Amodei.

OpenAI and Anthropic are fierce competitors in the AI market. OpenAI, which rocketed into the mainstream following the release of its AI chatbot ChatGPT in 2022, is preparing to sell stock as part of a secondary sale that would value the company at roughly $500 billion, as CNBC reported in August.

As of August, Anthropic said its run-rate revenue has reached over $5 billion, up from roughly $1 billion at the beginning of the year. Anthropic serves more than 300,000 business customers, the company said.

Anthropic said it will use its fresh capital to deepen safety research, meet growing enterprise demand and support international expansion.

WATCH: As Anthropic goes, so goes the generative AI trade, says Big Technology’s Alex Kantrowitz