European Union regulators fined Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) a record 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion U.S.) Tuesday, ruling that the search-engine giant violated antitrust rules for its online shopping practices.
The fine is the largest meted out by Brussels for a monopoly abuse case and has resulted from a seven-year-long investigation.
Probes were triggered after the European Commission received dozens of complaints from U.S. and European competitors who claimed that the search engine company abused its search market dominance to give its Google Shopping service an advantage over other retailers and create a monopoly over consumers.
Though Google has faced charges involving distorting internet results by the EU competition authority in April 2015, it has not before faced fines for an abuse of this nature and marks a landmark for the way technology companies are regulated.
The business has been given 90 days to cease these practices or face further penalties. This may include non-compliance payments of up to 5% of Google parent Alphabet's daily worldwide turnover.
Google said it will consider appealing the decision to the European Court of Justice, which will be its final hope of undoing the charges.
As part of parent firm Alphabet, Google could have been slapped with a charge of up to $9 billion U.S. based on its 2016 turnover. While the final bill fell short of this, it eclipses the one-billion-euro ($1.45-billion U.S.) fine doled out to chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) in 2009.
Mid-morning Tuesday, Alphabet shares gave back $10.37, or 1.1%, to $961.72
Tech Insider
