Apple shares rise after judge rules Google can continue preload deals in antitrust case
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc., during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on June 9, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Apple shares rose more than 3% in extended trading Tuesday after a federal judge ruled that Alphabet may continue making payments to preload Google Search onto the iPhone.
Although Apple wasn’t a party in the search monopoly trial, the judge was considering remedies that would bar Google from paying billions per year to Apple to be the default search engine on the Safari browser on iPhones, Macs and iPads.
“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,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in his decision.
“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,” the decision continued.
The landmark case focused on Google’s dominance of the general search market, Google’s violations of the Sherman Act and the barriers to entry that the search engine erected.
However, the judge said that Google will be barred from entering or maintaining “any exclusive contract” related to preloading its search engine or key apps on devices, specifying that Google can’t bundle its Android services with Google search or condition revenue share agreements on the acceptance of other Google apps or services.
The decision said that Apple’s deal with Google to be the default search engine was “exclusive” because it established Google as the default out-of-the-box search engine.
But while Mehta put restrictions on Google making payments to ensure its products receive exclusive distribution, he fell short of banning those payments entirely, leaving open the possibility that the two companies could strike a new deal. The remedies would limit any revenue-sharing agreement to one year, according to the Department of Justice.
Apple did not immediately respond for a request for comment.
“Now the Court has imposed limits on how we distribute Google services, and will require us to share Search data with rivals,” Google said in a blog post. “We have concerns about how these requirements will impact our users and their privacy, and we’re reviewing the decision closely.”
The U.S. Department of Justice filed its suit against Google in 2020, alleging that Google kept its share of the general search market by erecting strong barriers for challengers, such as its default search deals. The U.S. District Court in Washington ruled last August that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of software and services, testified on Google’s behalf about potential remedies.
Tuesday’s filing was the first time the judge had detailed his proposed remedies.
Analysts previously said that it may take years before Apple is forced to make changes in response to a Google suit ruling. Google has said it will appeal the ruling, and analysts say any remedies trial could last for up to two years. Google can also appeal the outcome of the remedies trial, and the Supreme Court can choose take a look at it once appeals are exhausted.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook (R) listen as U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a roundtable with American and Indian business leaders in the East Room of the White House on June 23, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Default agreements
While Google contracts with companies such as Samsung and browser-maker Mozilla to be the default search engine on their platforms, the most important and biggest such “default agreement” deal is with Apple. Google paid all partners $26 billion in total to be the default search engine in 2021, according to documents discussed in court.
Google paid because it funnels traffic from Apple’s 1 billion iPhone users to its search engine, and the revenue is critical for the growth of Apple’s services business, which investors love because it is so much more profitable than hardware sales.
In addition to the licensing payments, Apple says that it uses Google because it’s the best search engine and that its priority is to offer the best tools to its customers.
Apple also has options if it cannot make Google the default search engine. Earlier this year, for example, Apple’s Cue said in court as a witness for Google that the iPhone maker is also considering adding AI search engines as options to its software.
“Cue’s testimony establishes that Google’s high revenue share payments deterred Apple from trying to capture for itself all the advertising rents that flow through the Safari browser’s default search box,” the judge wrote in Tuesday’s filing.
Apple’s revenue from Google is reported in its financials as advertising revenue, which is reported as part of the company’s Services business, which also includes AppleCare warranties, cloud services like iCloud, and digital content like apps and Apple Music.
WATCH: Federal judge rules Google does not have to divest Chrome
Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the annual Snowflake Summit in San Francisco, California on June 02, 2025.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
OpenAI is rapidly expanding its presence in India — one of the key markets for its flagship ChatGPT product.
India is an appealing destination for U.S. tech giants, with companies ranging from Google to Meta betting on its huge — and young — population over recent years.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited the country in February this year and met with the country’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss collaboration. During the visit, Altman said India was OpenAI’s second-largest market by number of users.
He has subsequently said that AI adoption in India is “amazing to watch.”
“We love to see the explosion of creativity–india is outpacing the world,” he said on X earlier this year.
India is one of ChatGPT’s fastest-growing markets globally, Nick Patience, practice lead for AI at tech research and analysis firm Futurum Group, told CNBC. “OpenAI’s India focus is a strategic move to gain a competitive edge,” he added.
Here’s a rundown of how OpenAI is expanding in India.
ChatGPT explosion
ChatGPT, OpenAI’s core product, has seen strong growth in India. The app was downloaded 10.2 million times in India in August, a huge jump from the 2.5 million downloads seen during the same month last year, according to analytics firm Appfigures.
Since its launch, ChatGPT has 111 million downloads in India, ahead of its 80 million downloads in the U.S, Appfigures data shows.
Downloads do not necessarily equal daily or monthly users, but the figures emphasise OpenAI’s growth trajectory in the country.
The download numbers are also far ahead of rivals, including Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. The closest challenger was Perplexity, Appfigures said, which had 6.4 million downloads in August.
India-specific product
User spending on ChatGPT has been increasing. To date, Indian users have spent $21.3 million on ChatGPT, Appfigures data shows. In comparison, U.S. users have spent $784 million.
That underlines the fact that while the number of users in India is huge, it remains a price-sensitive market.
To address this, OpenAI in August launched ChatGPT Go, a low-cost 399-rupees-($4.53)-a-month plan for its AI app.
“It’s a classic wedge strategy to capture a price-sensitive market and build a user base that will be difficult for local players to dislodge later,” Futurum Group’s Patience said of the strategy.
Infrastructure and hiring
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI is scouting a location in India for a data center with at least 1-gigawatt capacity. The facility will be part of OpenAI’s Stargate-branded infrastructure push, Bloomberg said this week, although CNBC was unable to verify the report.
The ChatGPT developer said last month that it would open a local office in the market and is currently advertising three sales roles in India.
It also announced last month an education program in India that will include funding for research and provide half a million ChatGPT licenses for educators and students across the country.
India challenges
While India doesn’t have a home-grown artificial intelligence company as big as OpenAI, there are some challengers in the form of domestic startups, including Sarvam AI and Krutrim, and other American tech giants like Google and Meta.
Continued geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and India over trade, however, have the potential to cause complications if there’s any backlash from New Delhi against American tech firms.
OpenAI is also locked in a legal battle with Asian News International in India, which has accused the ChatGPT developer of using copyrighted material illegally. It’s a closely-watched case in the country for how copyright laws apply in the AI era.
“OpenAI’s success in India is not guaranteed and depends heavily on its ability to navigate these legal and political hurdles,” Futurum Group’s Patience said.
“While the Indian market is vast, its diversity in languages and user needs presents challenges. OpenAI’s ability to deliver a truly localized product and its long-term impact on India’s AI talent remain uncertain.”
Bret Taylor, chairman of the board of directors of OpenAI, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 8, 2025.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Bret Taylor’s artificial intelligence startup Sierra has just joined an exclusive club: The company sports a new $10 billion valuation after raising $350 million in fresh capital.
Sierra is one of just a handful of AI startups, including OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Safe Superintelligence and Thinking Machines that are valued at or above $10 billion.
Investors are pouring money into this competitive group of companies in the hopes that they’ll eventually hit the public markets.
Taylor is the chairman of OpenAI’s board, and previously served as co-CEO of Salesforce alongside Marc Benioff. Taylor co-founded Sierra in 2023. The company builds and implements AI agents for customer service. AI agents can carry out tasks autonomously on behalf of their users.
Shares of Salesforce fell 5% Thursday after the company reported weak guidance and concerns lingered about how AI is affecting software companies.
Sierra said its agents are already being used by “hundreds of millions of people” to help with tasks like refinancing homes, ordering lunch, delivering furniture, understanding insurance deductibles and fixing technology, among other things.
Greenoaks led Sierra’s latest funding round, the company said. Its valuation more than doubled from its most recent raise in October.
“We’re in this for the long term,” Sierra said in a blog post on Thursday.
The company said it will use its fresh funding to invest in its platform and focus on domestic and international expansion.
Sierra’s funding follows a flurry of other major AI raises in Silicon Valley. Earlier this week, Anthropic announced it had closed a $13 billion funding round at a $183 billion post-money valuation.
WATCH: Sierra co-founder Bret Taylor on AI agents’ role in an evolving global landscape
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