Google seeks to avoid ad tech breakup

ALEXANDRIA (Virginia), Sept 22 (Reuters): Alphabet's Google will seek to avoid a forced sale of part of its online advertising business in its latest face-off with US antitrust enforcers at a trial starting on Monday in Alexandria, Virginia.

The trial is the government's next best shot at curbing what a judge has ruled is Google's monopoly power, after losing a separate bid to make Google sell its Chrome browser earlier this month. Online publishers and rival ad tech developers, some of whom have separately sued Google for damages, will be watching the case closely.

The US Department of Justice and a coalition of states are seeking to make Google sell its ad exchange, AdX, where online publishers pay Google a 20 per cent fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites.