Google Scores a Win in Antitrust Decision

— Google avoids a breakup of its dominant ad tech business. — This is a huge win for Google and a big loss for the Justice Department. — Plus, Chevron and other energy companies sign deals to revive Venezuela's oil industry. And sailors on board the USS Lincoln get their first break in nine months at a Thai beach resort town. It's Wednesday, September 2nd. I'm Alex Osola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Several energy companies signed deals today to invest billions of dollars into Venezuela's oil fields. Chevron, which is currently the only big U.S. company active in the country, will invest more than $7 billion there over the next five years. That's meant to double its production in Venezuela. The Italian oil company Eni, smaller U.S. players Primavera and Aspect Holdings, and the power equipment firm GE Vernova also signed deals in Venezuela today. Venezuela's oil output has barely budged since the U.S. ousted Nicolas Maduro, and the agreements are the first big win for the Trump administration's push to revitalize the country's oil industry. During the signing ceremony today at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that energy production would transform Venezuela and help Americans, too. A catalyst for improving the life conditions of Americans, our hemisphere, and everyone in the world is to massively expand energy production around the world. But of course, we're massively interested to do that in the Americas. This is our neighborhood. Oil prices remained on the rise today, with Brent crude gaining one percent to over $95 a barrel. And the global bond market route continued, with a 30-year high for the Japanese 10-year yield and a 15-year high for the German bond yield. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield overnight hit its highest point since November 2023, but then retreated to finish the day almost unchanged from yesterday. In stock markets, the major U.S. indexes all rose, with the Dow leading the gains. It closed up 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, Uber says it's laying off 3,300 people, or about 10 percent of its staff. It's trimming management layers and streamlining divisions. The restructuring comes after Uber softened its outlook last month. A federal judge ruled today that Google didn't have to dismantle its online advertising business. It's a decision on a lawsuit that the Justice Department filed in 2023, claiming that the only way to curb Google's dominance over the digital advertising industry was for it to sell off its ad exchange. Dave Michaels covers corporate law enforcement for the journal and joins me now with more. Dave, what do we know about this ruling? Well, we know that, the court disagreed with the Justice Department's request to break up Google. That was the big ask from the Justice Department, and the judge said she'd agree to more restrained options for trying to inject new competition into this business. But we don't have the full details of the decision yet, right? Right. The judge sealed her opinion for a week or two to allow the two sides to go over anything in there that's confidential business information. So, we don't know her reasoning yet. But for the moment, this is a huge win for Google and a big loss for the Justice Department. This is a huge business that Google has dominated and, frankly, where it has created a lot of complaints and ill will from the website publishers that need to use Google's tools to manage the space that they have on their websites and their other digital properties for ads. So, this case follows Google's decision to break up Google, and it follows a number of others, including another against Google, in which federal judges have opted against breaking up companies. What does that tell us about the state of antitrust enforcement? Well, if you are an antitrust hawk who thinks that to really fix excessive corporate power, that you need to break up companies, then this is a huge setback. There may be other means to achieve that goal, but as far as using antitrust law to dilute power and scale the giants back, it's proving hard to do that through antitrust litigation where the government is the plaintiff. That was Journal reporter Dave Michaels. Thanks so much for joining me, Dave. Thank you. Google says it's pleased the court didn't order a breakup of its business. The Justice Department says it's weighing its next steps now, but it thinks the court's order includes substantial changes to how Google behaves in the market. And we should note here that News Corp, the owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a commercial agreement to supply content on Google platforms. Coming up, our travel columnist Dawn Gilbertson tells us about her new favorite way to cut the airport security line. More after the break. The U.S. government is backing OpenAI in its legal battle with The New York Times and other publishers. The Times alleges that OpenAI trained its AI tools on Times content, and its 2023 lawsuit kicked off a wave of similar legal challenges from news publishers. Now, a letter from the Justice Department says that, under U.S. copyright law, training on news content is within the bounds of fair use. Fair use says that, in certain circumstances, it's okay to use copyrighted material without permission. A New York Times spokesman says that the administration's stance would undermine the sustainability of content created by humans. News Corp has a content licensing partnership with OpenAI. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, tech executives and Trump administration officials have been at a G20 summit focused on technology, where they encouraged policymakers from other big countries to minimize AI regulations. WSJ tech policy reporter Amrith Ramkumar has a dispatch from the summit in Chapel Hill. We're at the Carolina Inn, which is a historic hotel on UNC Chapel Hill's campus. It's officials from these countries and their aides. We've definitely seen Jetson Wong, Sam Altman, a lot of people from the government. It has also been clear how close the tech officials are with the administration. We've seen a lot of people from the government. It has been clear how close the tech officials are with the administration and leaders around the world. Jetson Wong did sort of a fireside chat with Commerce Secretary Howard Letnick this morning, and then afterwards, they took an opening photo for the G20 event today with all ministers from all of the countries. And after the ministers took their photo, Letnick invited Jetson into the photo. And then afterwards, the officials from the countries took turns, one by one, several of them taking selfies and other photos with Jetson, once again confirming his global rock star status because everyone needs access to his in video. So it's basically sort of like a Kumbaya moment. But Amrith says the summit also highlighted some of the backlash against AI. We saw dozens of protesters on UNC Chapel Hill's campus who were very anti-AI, very anti-data centers, very anti-flock safety cameras. So the industry knows they have a huge problem here. The administration knows they have a huge problem here. But people are trying to put on a good face this week in front of a global audience. And here in New York City, public schools are banning AI in some classrooms for one year. The ban is in effect from preschool through eighth grade, and it covers about 600,000 kids. Schools are also going to introduce new limits on screen time. City officials are going to study the impact of AI and then the release recommendations on what to do after the one-year ban is up. After 286 days at sea, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has docked in Thailand for a port call. The nearly 5,000 sailors and marines on board are spending their first extended time on land in more than nine months in the beach town of Pattaya, which is known for its nightlife. The Lincoln's commanding officer, Captain Daniel Keeler, thanked the city's mayor today for welcoming the service members. It is a well-deserved break for all of the crew, and we really look forward to our time here to get a little rest and relaxation. The carrier made headlines last month after family members and Democratic lawmakers asked about the challenges of service. The Navy has acknowledged the difficulties, but said that there was always adequate food and that a small number of mental health cases had been treated. Today in Thailand, the sailors joined the crowds of tourists on Pattaya's main drag, packed with go-go bars and clubs. They declined to comment on their deployment to the Wall Street Journal. Exclusively reporting that Southwest Airlines is getting in the airport lounge game. Construction is already underway on the lounges in Austin, Baltimore, Nashville, and Honolulu. The airline wants to use the lounges to attract flyers to a new high-end credit card it's launching with JPMorgan Chase. Well, in the shorter term, with Labor Day weekend fast approaching, there are ways to start your luxurious travel experience before you even get through security. I'm talking about those airport line-cutting programs like TSA PreCheck, Clear, and Global Entry. Our travel columnist Dawn Gilbertson says they're worth signing up for. She actually has all three. I just know that from my travel patterns, I couldn't live without them personally. And I think a lot of frequent flyers can't based on my inbox. One thing I want to shout from the rooftops is if you have TSA PreCheck and a passport, there's a relatively new program called TSA Touchless ID. If you can opt into Touchless, you will have one of the smoothest airport experiences And that's what's news for this Wednesday afternoon. is produced by Danny Lewis and Alexis Moore with supervising producer Tali Arbell. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.