French antitrust authorities ordered Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Monday to pay a 1.1-billion-euro ($1.23 billion U.S.) fine for anti-competitive behavior.
The French competition authority said the iPhone-maker was guilty of creating cartels within its distribution network and abusing the economic dependence of its outside resellers.
Two of Apple’s wholesalers were also fined for agreeing on prices: Tech Data and Ingram Micro received fines of 76.1 million euros and 62.9 million euros respectively.
The French authority said this penalty — totaling 1.24 billion euros — was the largest ever handed down in one case.
"Apple and its two wholesalers agreed not to compete and prevent distributors from competing with each other, thereby sterilizing the wholesale market for Apple products," said Isabelle de Silva, president of the French Competition Authority.
A spokesperson for Apple told the media "The French Competition Authority’s decision is disheartening. It relates to practices from over a decade ago and discards 30 years of legal precedent that all companies in France rely on with an order that will cause chaos for companies across all industries. We strongly disagree with them and plan to appeal."
Monday’s announcement is the second fine that French authorities have imposed on Apple in two months. The regulators hit Apple with a 25 million euro fine in February over its software updates, which were concluded to have slowed down older iPhones.
Apple shares were down $34.63, or 12.5% in Monday’s early morning trade, to $243.34, amid a broad-based move lower in stock markets.
