What's Going On With Google Parent Alphabet Stock Today?

Alphabet Inc GOOG shares are trading lower Wednesday amid an antitrust lawsuit against the company over online advertising. 

What Happened: The U.S. Justice Department has accused Google of abusing its dominance in the digital advertising space, per Reuters. 

The report indicates the government has brought an antitrust complaint against Google that aims to force the company to sell its ad manager suite. 

"Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies," the antitrust complaint reportedly said.

Related Link: Peter Schiff Says DoJ Harassing Google With Antitrust Lawsuit: 'Consumers Need Protection From Government...Not Private Companies'

What Else: Alphabet shares may also be facing selling pressure following Microsoft Corp's MSFT quarterly report. The tech giant doubled down on its investment in OpenAI's ChatGPT a day ahead of the report and then reaffirmed its increased focus on AI in the print.

"The next major wave of computing is being born, as the Microsoft Cloud turns the world’s most advanced AI models into a new computing platform. We are committed to helping our customers use our platforms and tools to do more with less today and innovate for the future in the new era of AI," said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

Near the end of 2022, reports indicated that Google had declared "code red" to deal with the threat AI poses to Google Search. Google CEO Sundar Pichai had reportedly been involved in a series of meetings to define Google's AI strategy not long after ChatGPT took the world by storm. 

From Last Month: ChatGPT Popularity Reportedly Leads To Google Declaring 'Code Red' As Sundar Pichai Increases Involvement In AI Strategy

GOOG Price Action: Alphabet has a 52-week high of $152.10 and a 52-week low of $83.45.

The stock was down 2.74% at $96.49 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: Hebi B. from Pixabay.