India, Aug. 29 -- Alphabet's Google (GOOG) has offered to sell its advertising marketplace AdX in a bid to resolve a major European Union antitrust investigation, but publishers have rejected the proposal as inadequate, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move marked the first time Google has considered divesting an asset to address antitrust concerns, underscoring the mounting pressure on its $237.9 billion ad business.
The EU launched its probe last year following a complaint from the European Publishers Council, accusing Google of favoring its own advertising tools and squeezing rivals across the digital ad supply chain. The AdX exchange, which lets publishers sell unsold ad inventory in real time, is a cornerstone of Goo...