Targeted For Its Success, Google Faces High-Stakes Antitrust Cases

Doing something well puts you on governments' hit lists

You could make the case that when it comes to the Internet, it's Google's world and we're all just searching in it. Big news sites (like this one) hope Google will send it many readers. Retailers hope it will send them shoppers. And service providers, both legal and illegal, hope it will send them customers willing to pay for what they're providing.

It shouldn't be a surprise then that the site, with 67 percent share of searches in the United States and 66 percent worldwide (according to ComScore), is facing major antitrust pressure from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission. Their jobs are to ensure businesses can compete fairly even in markets where one holds a monopoly. Still surprised Google is in their crosshairs? Consider that eMarketer predicts Google will generate $13.4 billion in net revenue from search ads this year, 75 percent of the total market, rising to $16.5 billion in 2014, or 76 percent of the market.