Latest news with #Dyall
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
4 Details That Could Complicate Chrome's Forced $50B Sale
A forced sale of Google Chrome might sound like a clean fix for the Big Tech firm's search monopoly, but a closer look shows that it's far more complicated. As part of its proposed remedies in the ongoing search monopoly case against Google, the Justice Department is angling to force a sale of Chrome and its open-source technology Chromium-one that insiders say would be as technically fraught as it is historically unprecedented. Other remedies include requiring Google to share data, offer greater transparency to advertisers, and unwind exclusive $20 billion deals with phone makers. Even critics of Google's market dominance admit Chrome's scale-installed on more than 4 billion devices-and its integration with Google's tech stack, make it uniquely difficult to disentangle. With near-total reliance on Google's infrastructure, any sale could trigger new antitrust concerns, fracture the user experience, and threaten a key part of the web. "It's definitely a complicated and unprecedented [remedy]," said Vidushi Dyall, director of legal analysis, Chamber of Progress, who attended the ongoing trial. Companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Yahoo have reportedly expressed interest in buying Chrome. Meanwhile the DOJ appears determined to move forward, but here's what complicates the potential sale. 1. Trading one monopoly for another If the DOJ forces Chrome to market, any buyer big enough to afford it could face immediate antitrust scrutiny, sources said. With 4 billion users, acquiring Chrome would give one company control over nearly 67% of global internet browsing. "Anyone big enough to acquire [Chrome] is going to come up with their own antitrust issues," said Andrew Buckman, vice president of marketing and investor relations at Azerion. While Microsoft hasn't officially pitched to buy Chrome, its size, financial muscle, and existing search engine business make it a top contender-one that Judge Amit Mehta has acknowledged could be the only company capable of buying Chrome, according to Dyall. However, Microsoft already has exclusive syndication deals with smaller search engines like DuckDuckGo. If it acquired Chrome, it could gain access to default search traffic and block rivals from leveraging the browser's scale, defying the very purpose of the existing search trial. "Microsoft isn't beholden to any of these constraints, so they can take full advantage of the remedies without fear of recourse," Dyall said. 2. 75% Chrome users could flee Chrome has been developed in-house since day one. "Chrome today represents 17 years of collaboration between the Chrome people and the rest of Google," Parisa Tabriz, the browser's general manager, testified in court last week. Some of Chrome's core features, like safe browsing and password breach alerts, rely on Google-wide systems, which Tabriz said, "I don't think could be recreated." According to Dyall, this deep integration gives Google a clear advantage. "To split it apart doesn't make sense because it's so deeply embedded in their infrastructure," she said. But as David Locala, former head of global technology M&A at Citi, testified, a Chrome sale could result in significant user attrition. Even a 75% drop in users would still leave 1 billion monthly active users, he said. However, stripping Chrome of its Google integrations could diminish its value and alienate users accustomed to a seamless Google experience. As Dyall put it, "What [Locala] didn't answer is: What does a divested Chrome look like if it loses 75% of its user base?" 3. The Chromium cliff At least 25 browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Opera, Brave, DuckDuckGo are supported by Chromium. Tabriz said in court that Google has contributed more than 90% of the code for Chromium since 2015 and invested hundreds of millions of dollars, while 1,000 engineers within her division have contributed to the project. While Chromium is technically free for anyone to use, such evidences indicate that Google does the heavy lifting when it comes to maintaining it, said Dyall. "If Chromium is divested from Google, the tech giant has no incentive to continue contributing to it," she said. "The business model of all of these projects will come into question." 4. The monetization squeeze The price tag for Chrome is steep-estimated at over $50 billion, according to DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg, who testified in court. Any buyer willing to make that kind of investment would likely seek to recoup it, possibly at the expense of user experience, said Ameet Shah, partner and svp of publisher operations at Prohaska Consulting. This could involve more aggressive ad placements, fundamentally changing how people experience Chrome. "Chrome is a tough sale because there's no money in Chrome itself," said Shah. "The new owner can change things like run ads and then Chrome becomes something different to what it is today." This shift could also bring new privacy concerns. Monetizing Chrome through ads could impact how user data is handled. "Privacy becomes a much bigger issue and depends on who will try to sell that inventory,' Shah added.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Inheritance tax receipts soar to record high as experts warn more people will have to pay
Inheritance tax receipts reached another record high in the last tax year, as frozen thresholds dragged more people into the net. The latest HMRC figures show IHT receipts from April 2024 to March 2025 reached £8.2billion, an increase of £800million compared with the same period a year ago. More people are paying IHT as frozen thresholds and rising house prices have pulled them into the net, and experts predict this will only rise with pensions set to be included from 2027. The headline rate of IHT is 40 per cent, charged over the £325,000 threshold, with an additional £175,000 allowance granted to direct descendants. Spouses and civil partners can share their allowance, meaning they can pass on £1million to their children tax-free, and these thresholds are frozen until 2030. Ian Dyall, head of estate planning at Evelyn Partners, said: 'The inheritance tax take for the Treasury has notched up another record financial year. 'That's a trend that is unlikely to change as long as nil-rate bands remain frozen, which is currently until at least 2030.' Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, adds: 'The result is the IHT issue is no longer one for the richest people – it's something that needs to be considered more widely.' Changes announced by Rachel Reeves in the Budget also mean more of people's estates will face the death tax. Pensions will no longer be exempt from IHT, bringing pension pots into a person's estate from 2027, while tax will have to be paid on inheritance agricultural assets worth more than £1million from next April. Reeves might go further, with concern the Treasury might look at lengthening or even scrapping the seven-year gifting rule. Dyall warns: 'The Chancellor might not be done with IHT reform quite yet.' However, recent market chaos might be a silver lining for some families who could be due an IHT rebate if the value of their estate fell during the recent market chaos. Dyall says: 'If their estate was valued on death, say, six months ago and the IHT bill settled on the basis of that, then by the time probate is granted and assets have been liquidated, it could be that the total value of the estate has dropped. 'Executors should check the estate's value at the point it is distributed to beneficiaries and compare this to the estimate given to HMRC when the IHT liability was calculated. It could be that the estate is due some money back from HMRC.' Elsewhere, capital gains tax receipts fell in 2024/25 tax year, their lowest level since 2020/21, after cutting the tax-free allowance and raising the tax rate. 'On the face of it, you might have assumed [it] would mean the Government scooping up millions of pounds more in tax,' says Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown. 'However, lower tax-free allowances from April 2023 meant investors realised gains ahead of the cut, so the tax peaked in the tax year earlier at £16.9billion.'
