Google settles smaller lawsuits to prepare for larger suits, NY Times says

Back in December, Google spent $700M to resolve states’ claims its Play Store strong-armed app makers into high fees, then later Google paid $350M to end a lawsuit accusing it of improperly sharing users’ private information, Nico Grant of The New York Times says. Earlier this week, Singular Computing said it resolved its lawsuit with Google, that claimed Google stole its chip designs. Google is also on the verge of a fourth legal settlements in three months to end claims it misrepresented the privacy settings of its Chrome web browser. In just a few months, Google has spent over $1B to make room for court fights that may prove much more damaging: two suits brought by the Department of Justice, targeting the company’s search engine and advertising business.