Preparing to settle a Department of Justice investigation of “use of Google advertising by certain advertisers,” Google has set aside $500 million to make the investigation go away.

IT World reports the vague-sounding investigation yields little insight into what sorts of ads the DOJ had a problem with. But when a company makes as much as Google does — harvesting $1.8 billion in the first quarter after the cash for the settlement was removed — even such a hefty settlement isn’t anything close to a backbreaker for the business. The story says 97 percent of Google’s first-quarter revenue came from ads.

Google prepares for possible $500 million settlement with U.S. Justice Department [IT World via Boing Boing]

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