US judge rejects bid to break up Google's ad business

A US judge on Wednesday refused to force Google to sell a division of its digital advertising business, rejecting the government's push to break up part of the company's ad empire.

In a court order, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, opted instead for a set of rules governing how Google must operate in the ad market.

The decision is the second time in recent years that a federal judge has declined to dismantle a piece of Google's business after a judge last year refused to force the sale of its Chrome browser in a separate monopoly case over online search.