Goal is to 'crush' the competition, ex-Google exec said way back

New Google antitrust trial kicked off a couple of days, and new info keeps on coming. A former Google exec told his colleagues that the goal was to ‘crush’ the competition aka other advertising networks.

This is based on the evidence prosecutors presented at the trial on Wednesday in Virginia. This kind of goes into the Department of Justice’s favor, as the DOJ is trying to prove Google wanted to monopolize markets for publisher ad servers and advertiser ad networks. On top of that, the DOJ also claims Google tried to dominate the market for ad exchanges.

Ex-Google exec wanted to “crush” the competition way back in the day, trial documents claim

“We’ll be able to crush the other networks and that’s our goal,” said David Rosenblatt, Google’s former president of display advertising. He said that of the company’s strategy in late 2008 or early 2009.

Rosenblatt also added “We’re both Goldman and NYSE”, according to the notes. He was referring to those two as they were one of the world’s biggest stock exchanges and one of the biggest markets back then.

To that, he also added: “Google has created what’s comparable to the NYSE or London Stock Exchange; in other words, we’ll do to display what Google did to search”. He also noted that the advertiser ad network would have a “first look” at available spots for ads, by adding that it was a “nightmare” for publishers to switch platforms.

As a reminder, Rosenblatt arrived at Google in 2008 when the company acquired DoubleClick, his former ad tech company. He was not at Google for long, though, as he left in 2009.

That exec is now a CEO of another company

David Rosenblatt is now the CEO of online luxury marketplace 1stDibt, reports Reuters. He also did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, at least not right away.

Brand Bender, another former DoubleClick executive, who was at Google until 2022, testified at the trial too. HE forwarded Rosenblatt’s notes to the team, telling them it’s a “worthwhile read”.

Google has once again denied the charges. The company said that it faces fierce competition from its rivals, other digital advertising companies. Google also added that it’s not the only company to offer an integrated suite of products for advertisers and publishers. Its representatives listed Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, as examples.

The trial continues. If Google is found guilty at the end of everything, the US District Judge, Leonie Brinkema, could make Google sell off Google Ad Manager, at the very least. That is the request of the prosecutors. That is a platform that includes Google’s publisher ad server nd its ad exchange.