Gannett (NYSE:GCI) Co, the publisher of USA Today and city newspapers around the country, is suing Google over allegedly anticompetitive practices in the advertising technology market.
The publisher filed a complaint with the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, adding to a litany of lawsuits Google and its parent Alphabet are facing.
“With control over the largest ad exchange and ad server — both of which Google acquired rather than developed — Google has carried out a sophisticated, anticompetitive, and deceptive scheme for well over a decade,” Gannett (NYSE:GCI) wrote in the complaint.
The company argued that Googe’s grip on the ad tech market has harmed news publishers. Gannet claims that as online readership has grown, online ad spending has declined for publishers.
“Google has monopolized market trading to their advantage and at the expense of publishers, readers and everyone else,” Gannett (NYSE:GCI) CEO Michael Reed said in a statement. “Digital advertising is the lifeblood of the online economy. Without free and fair competition for digital ad space, publishers cannot invest in their newsrooms.”
In January, Google was hit with a similar lawsuit from the Department of Justice (the Department's second against the company) alleging that Google illegally maintained a monopoly by controlling multiple parts of the ad selling and buying market.
Shares of Gannett and Alphabet were each little changed Tuesday afternoon.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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