The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has designated Google with 'strategic market status' due to its 'substantial and entrenched market power' in search and search advertising. This classification, a first under the U.K.'s new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Act, allows the regulator to implement 'proportionate, targeted interventions' to foster more competition. The CMA noted that over 90% of searches in the UK are conducted on Google's platform. While the designation itself is not an accusation of wrongdoing, it opens the door for the CMA to introduce conduct requirements to govern Google's behavior. In pre-market trading in New York, Alphabet's Class C shares saw a slight decline of 0.2%.