Activists urge Google to break itself up before regulators act

San Francisco

SHAREHOLDER activists want Google parent Alphabet Inc to break itself up before regulators force the world's biggest Internet ad seller to split into different pieces.

SumOfUs, a US-based group that aims to curb the growing power of corporations, is set to make that proposal at Alphabet's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday at an auditorium at the company's offices in Sunnyvale, California.

"Officials in the US & EU continue to be concerned about Alphabet's market power in view of restrictions on monopolies," the proposal reads. "We believe that shareholders could receive greater value from a voluntary strategic reduction in the size of the company than from asset sales compelled by regulators."

The proposal has no realistic chance of success as Alphabet's top two executives, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, hold 51.3 per cent of shareholder votes.

Nevertheless, it shows a growing focus on the prospect of antitrust action against Alphabet and other big technology firms such as Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc as they face a political and public backlash over privacy issues and the power they now wield over the world's information.

US President Donald Trump has been a frequent critic of Google, claiming without evidence that its search engine unfairly produces results unfavourable to him.

He has suggested that US regulators should follow Europe's lead and look closely at tech companies' monopolies, but has not suggested any specific remedy.

The US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are gearing up to investigate whether Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook misuse their massive market power, sources told Reuters earlier this month.

The break-up proposal is one of a record of 13 on the ballot at Alphabet's Wednesday meeting. A group of Google employees is backing five of the proposals, which it helped craft, but not the proposal to split the company.

Tibetan and Uighur ethnic group leaders concerned about Google's work in China are among speakers expected to address demonstrations outside the auditorium before the meeting. REUTERS