Michael Reed on monopolistic practices
From Exclusive: Gannett CEO Mike Reed lays out the case for taking on Google with a civil suit · · Editor and Publisher
“The monopolistic practices underway at Google have been underway for a long period of time and we reached a breaking point with how much it has suppressed our business and depressed our industry. Twenty percent of newspapers in this country have closed over the last 15 years and 50 percent of the journalism workforce has been downsized. We just reached a point where it has to stop.”
On , Michael Reed, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & President at GANNETT CO INC, spoke about monopolistic practices during Exclusive: Gannett CEO Mike Reed lays out the case for taking on Google with a civil suit on Editor and Publisher.
About Michael Reed
In September 2023, Gannett CEO Mike Reed discussed the company's federal lawsuit against Google, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Reed stated that Google has engaged in "monopolistic business practices" that have impacted Gannett "for a long period of time," specifically related to digital advertising technology. He said Google "controls every single part of the process," including ad placement, exchanges, and pricing, and that this has allowed the company to "depress prices for publishers." Reed estimated Gannett's damages are "well north of a billion dollars" and noted that U.S. antitrust law provides for automatic trebling of damages. He described the lawsuit as focused on advertising technology, not on content theft or copyright violations, which he said are issues with other tech platforms. Reed expressed optimism about the future of local journalism, saying he sees "a robust future for journalism for local news, regional news, national news." He noted that Gannett's news platforms have 150 million unique monthly visitors and argued that "consumers want news," but that "Google makes all the money on the advertising side on the back of our news." Reed said the goal of the lawsuit is to create "a level playing field for all publishers" and a "fair and competitive marketplace." He attributed the closure of 20 percent of U.S. newspapers and a 50 percent reduction in the journalism workforce over the past 15 years to the impact of Google's practices, and stated that "when we get fair playing fields and fair compensation," the number of journalists in the country will increase.