What's Going On With Google Shares Friday?

Google Inc. GOOG shares are moving higher Friday afternoon possibly as the company faces significant challenges regarding its dependency on Apple's Safari browser.

What’s Happening: A new report from The Information highlights Google’s efforts to reduce its reliance on Apple Safari, as the company faces a potential court ruling that could force it to stop paying to be the default search engine on iPhones. This development comes amid the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ongoing antitrust case against Google.

Key Developments: The DOJ’s antitrust case has revealed that if Google is forced to end its payment agreement with Apple, the latter could lose about $20 billion annually. However, the potential damage to Google is also substantial.

Apple’s cut represents 36% of the ad revenue Google generates from searches conducted through the iPhone’s Safari browser. This translates to approximately $56 billion from Safari on the iPhone, accounting for around a quarter of Google’s total search revenues.

Google's Strategic Moves: In response to this potential threat, Google is increasingly trying to diversify its sources of search traffic and lessen its dependence on Apple. The company is exploring various strategies to mitigate the impact of any unfavorable court ruling that could disrupt its lucrative arrangement with Apple.

GOOG Price Action: Google shares were up by 2.52% at $192.12 according to Benzinga Pro.