Earlier this year, in one of the most absurd court rulings in modern times, federal judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated U.S. antitrust law by gaining a monopoly in the search engine markets.

In the days or weeks ahead, the courts will decide whether to break up one of America's most iconic companies or to sell off some of its activities and products. The latest reports are that the courts may require Google to sell off its popular Chrome browser. (To whom? China?) It may also require Google to surrender other products to help erase its market lead.

With a market cap of roughly $2 trillion, Google is one of the five most profitable companies in the world. It got there by offering a search engine service for free to hundreds of millions of customers. This may be the largest benefit to consumers of any company in world history.