ADVERTISEMENT

State AGs, U.S. Justice Lawyers to Discuss Google Probe: WSJ

State AGs, U.S. Justice Lawyers to Discuss Google Probe: WSJ

(Bloomberg) -- Attorneys general will meet with Justice Department lawyers this week to discuss separate investigations of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The meeting could lead to the groups joining forces, the newspaper said in a story posted to its website on Sunday.

A coalition of 48 states opened an antitrust investigation that will dig into Google’s operations in search and mobile software, going beyond an initial focus on the company’s advertising business, Bloomberg News said in November, citing two people familiar with the probe.

The state officials met privately in Denver in November to help prepare for an investigation that will likely present challenging competition issues, one of the people said at the time. The states were also planning to map out a strategy for dividing the workload of the investigation, said two of the people.

The Journal said at least seven state attorneys general who are part of the investigation have been invited to the meeting.

--With assistance from David McLaughlin, Ben Brody, Naomi Nix and Mark Bergen.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Geimann in Washington at sgeimann@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Ian Fisher

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.