Overview

• Alphabet will allocate $500 million over ten years to revamp its compliance structure under a preliminary derivative lawsuit settlement.
• The deal requires the creation of a standalone board committee for risk and compliance, an SVP-level regulatory committee reporting to Sundar Pichai, and a cross-functional compliance team.
• Shareholders led by Michigan pension funds accused executives including Sundar Pichai, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of breaching fiduciary duties by exposing the company to antitrust liability.
• Shareholders’ lawyers plan to seek up to $80 million in additional legal fees and expenses on top of the $500 million commitment.
• The settlement comes as the DOJ advances proposals to divest Chrome and Android and enforce data-sharing to weaken Google’s search and browser dominance.