Good morning.
A historic antitrust trial against Google begins today in a federal courtroom in Washington—the biggest since the government sued Microsoft 25 years ago. And there are some striking similarities between the two cases. Microsoft’s desktop operating system was in those days almost everyone’s entry point into the world of personal computing, just as Google’s search engine is today almost everyone’s entry point into the world of search.
I was Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in 1998 and can’t overstate how much the trial dominated my attention for the months it lasted. Attorneys for both sides lobbied the press as fervently as they argued in court. And we all stood transfixed when watching Bill Gates’ obfuscatory video deposition under the questioning of super lawyer David Boies, whom the Justice Department hired to prosecute the case. The computer mogul left long gaps between his answers and said “I don’t recall” so many times even the judge laughed. The case ended with the court ruling that Microsoft was indeed a monopoly. The final result was a settlement restricting predatory behavior but not requiring an AT&T-style breakup.
Google circa 2023 is very different from Microsoft circa 2004. The introduction of ChatGPT last fall has changed the conversation from whether Google’s search dominance is unassailable to whether it is already in inevitable decline—as Jeremy Kahn’s deep dive earlier this summer, which you should read here, explored. Google’s disruptive moment may be imminent. In comparison to Microsoft, this case seems almost anticlimactic.
The trial is scheduled to continue into late November, and another round of court filings and arguments will likely follow. If the judge determines Google has been breaking the law, there will be another trial to determine remedies. All of which underscores the fundamental problem with using antitrust law to regulate the tech industry. The first moves far too slowly to have a meaningful impact on the second, which evolves at warp speed. The best that can be said is that threat of antitrust action forces companies like Microsoft and Google to be more responsible in exercising their market power—which is not a bad outcome.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Boeing work-from-home?
Boeing CEO David Calhoun and CFO Brian West are continuing to work from home even as most of the company’s workers are back at the office. Boeing’s private jets have made over 400 trips to and from airports close to Calhoun’s homes in New Hampshire and South Carolina. And the planemaker even leases a small office near West’s home in Connecticut, allowing the CFO to remotely manage the firm’s treasury staff in Chicago. The Wall Street Journal
Qualcomm gets a reprieve
Apple’s decision to keep using Qualcomm’s 5G modem chips until 2026 shows that the iPhone maker’s bold chip design plans have yet to bear fruit. Apple has openly talked about making its own communications chips, which translate cell signals into data and voice calls and are only made by a handful of companies. Almost a quarter of Qualcomm’s sales last year went to Apple. Bloomberg
Dimon’s China worries
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he’s “highly cautious” on China, telling a conference audience that the risk-reward calculus has deteriorated. “The risk is bad,” Dimon said. During Dimon's visit to China in May—one of several by prominent U.S. CEOs—the chief executive warned that Beijing’s regulatory crackdown was threatening investor confidence, yet he pledged that JPMorgan would stay in China “through good times and bad times.” Reuters
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
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Commentary: America leads the world in A.I.–but we could fall behind on A.I. regulation by the end of 2023 by Victoria Espinel
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Brian Chesky says Airbnb’s successful IPO was ‘one of the saddest periods’ of his life—then Barack Obama gave him one piece of advice by Orianna Rosa Royle
San Francisco’s ‘real estate apocalypse’ has the attention of billionaire MacKenzie Scott—just look at her latest donation by Alena Botros
Billionaire family that controls Ferrari denies ‘groundless’ rumors that Italian soccer giants Juventus are up for sale despite mounting losses by Prarthana Prakash
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.
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