Big tech is looking for a big break.
The tech sector has been under fire from foreign and domestic government regulators.
Lawsuits have been filed against Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Amazon, Apple, and Google’s owner Alphabet (GOOGL) .
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However, with Donald Trump returning to the White House, the tech types see a glimmer of hope.
During an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Meta Platforms’ CEO Mark Zuckerberg urged Trump to stop the European Union from fining U.S. tech companies. Zuckerberg says the EU forced companies to pay more than $30 billion for legal violations over the past two decades.
Related: Google wants government agency to kill AI competitor’s deal
“I think it’s a strategic advantage for the United States that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the U.S. strategy going forward to defend that, and it’s one of the things that I’m optimistic about with President Trump,” Zuckerberg said.”I think he just wants America to win.”
“It’s basically just open season around the rest of the world,” he added.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet, which is battling with the federal regulators. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
UK regulators investigating Alphabet
Trump wrote in his book that Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election and said the Meta chief executive would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again.
Meanwhile, the EU is reportedly reassessing its investigations of tech groups, including Apple, Meta Platforms (META) , and Google, as the companies seek Trump’s intervention.
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The review will cover all cases launched since March of last year under the EU’s digital markets regulation, the Financial Times reported, citing two officials briefed on the move.
Separately, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said it had launched its first strategic market status designation investigation under the new digital markets competition regime, which came into force on January 1.
The CMA said in a statement that the investigation, expected to be completed in nine months, will assess Google’s position in search and search advertising services and how this impacts consumers and businesses, including advertisers, news publishers, and rival search engines.
Google accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the UK, the agency said, and more than 200,000 UK advertisers use Google’s search advertising.
“Effective competition ensures people benefit from greater choice, new and innovative services, and have control over their data,” the CMA said. “Search services are also important as a route to access the news.”
“Effective competition could help ensure that people can access a wide range of content and that publishers are treated fairly for the use of their content,” the agency added.
Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google’s monopoly fight has caused plenty of headaches
In August, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated antitrust law, spending billions of dollars to create an illegal monopoly and become the world’s default search engine.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Mehta wrote in his opinion.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in October, “We’re still in the middle of the remedies phase, and we will appeal, and this process will likely take many years.”
In November, the U.S. Department of Justice proposed that Google sell off its popular web browser and extension, Chrome, in an attempt to curb the tech leader’s monopoly on online searching.
Bank of America Securities analysts Justin Post and Nitan Basal included Alphabet’s legal challenges in the firm’s 2025 outlook research note.
The analysts, who raised their price target on Alphabet to $225 from $210 while keeping a buy rating, said on Jan. 15 that Alphabet stock was up 35% in 2024, outperforming the S&P 500, which was up 23%.
Analysts: 2025 pivotal year for Google
The revised price target is based on 2026 GAAP EPS of $10.06, compared with $10.31.
Google benefited from new product launches, which offset concerns about OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, gaining traction. They also cited strong cost discipline, improving Cloud growth, and positive estimates revisions.
Related: Google analysts sent scrambling by startling break-up news
“However, threat of disruption from emerging Gen-Al search platforms and adverse judgment in the DOJ search case weighed on multiple versus FANG peers,” the analysts said, referring to Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.
“With search still far overshading the value of other businesses, we view 2025 as a pivotal year, which could help establish Google as either an Al leader (via AI Overview traction) or see elevation in search disruption risk,” BofA added.
AI Overview, which provides AI-generated summaries that appear in Google search results, has the potential to drive healthy search trends.
On Jan. 13, Stifel raised the firm’s price target on Alphabet to $225 from $200 and kept a buy rating on the shares, according to The Fly.
The firm said it now believes the Supreme Court will likely uphold the law passed by Congress requiring parent company ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok business or face a ban.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments from TikTok’s lawyers and the Justice Department on Jan. 17.
While “there is still hope” for the company as President-elect Trump has expressed his intention to aid TikTok in the matter, the firm believes the hearing will likely change the dynamics as brands assumed the status quo.
The firm expects Meta and Alphabet as likely to receive the majority of reallocated ad dollars, estimating about a 2% and 1% lift to 2025 advertising revenue, respectively.
Separately, in a preview for the digital ads space, the firm said its checks suggest solid growth ahead of the agency’s initial forecasts in the fourth quarter.
Morgan Stanley raised Alphabet’s price target to $215 from $205 and kept an overweight rating on the shares.
The firm said it sees GPU-enabled and GenAI tool adoption driving fundamental upside and outperformance within the North American Internet group.
Among the group, Morgan Stanley named Amazon its new “Top Pick” as it sees GPU-related investments widening its retail advantage to “take more share, more profitably.” At the same time, it calls Meta a “GenAI compounder with multiple call options that could come into view.”
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