The UK's Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) officially designated Google with 'strategic market status' on October 10, 2025, citing the company's "substantial and entrenched market power" in the search and search advertising sectors. This designation, made under the UK's new digital market competition regime, empowers the regulator to investigate and implement 'proportionate, targeted interventions' to foster a more competitive landscape for general search services. The CMA highlighted 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 future regulatory actions that could impact Google's core business operations in the UK. The CMA has stated its intention to consult on potential interventions later in the year. In pre-market trading in New York on Friday morning, Class C shares of parent company Alphabet were down 0.2%.