Google hit with record 5 billion USD EU antitrust fine

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Europe

The EU on Wednesday slapped a record 4.34 billion euro (5 billion US dollars) anti-trust penalty on Google and gave it 90 days to end the "illegal" practices surrounding its Android operating system or face further fines.

The penalty represents just over two weeks of revenue for Google parent Alphabet Inc. and would scarcely dent its cash reserves of 102.9 billion US dollars. But it could add to a brewing trade war between Brussels and Washington.

Google said it would appeal the fine.

“Android has created more choice for everyone, not less. A vibrant ecosystem, rapid innovation and lower prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition,” it said.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s boss, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House next Wednesday in an effort to avert threatened new tariffs on EU cars amid Trump’s complaints over the US trade deficit.

Vestager also ordered Google to halt anti-competitive practices in contractual deals with smartphone makers and telecoms providers within 90 days or face additional penalties of up to 5 percent of parent Alphabet’s average daily worldwide turnover.

“Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine. These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere,” Vestager said.

Android, which runs about 80 percent of the world’s smartphones according to market research firm Strategy Analytics, is the most important case out of a trio of antitrust cases against Google.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters