Google faces the highly undesirable scenario of having to churn out a huge €3bn euros as antitrust fine imposed by the European Commission. The final verdict on this is still awaited though that seems to be the conclusion that the case is heading towards at the moment.
Google though has been vehemently denying the charges levied against it, that of misusing its dominating status over online search while undermining the interests of its competitors.
As things stand right now, the Mountain View company stands accused of tinkering with the search algorithm in a manner that promoted its own services and interests without presenting a balanced view to the users.
The final judgment in the case which has been dragging on since 2010 is expected to arrive within weeks and is highly likely to be delivered before the summer break. However, for Google the fine can swell to an even heftier 6 billion euros if the commission goes about exercising its full power of imposing fines of up to 10 percent of the company’s annual sales value. There have also been at least three attempts made to arrive at a mutual settlement during the past six years though things obviously didn’t work out then.
As a likely fallout of the case, Google will also have to change the way it delivered its search results that currently is tilted in its favor.
Google also seems to have lost the will to fight the case any further and is resigned to its fate. It had argued against the charges claiming the successful manner in which rival companies likes Amazon and eBay have gone about conducting its online business though the judges seem little interested. It’s unlikely the company will be making a fresh appeal to uphold its views.
Meanwhile, the fine of €3 billion will go down in history as the biggest imposed on a firm, superseding the earlier highest €1.1bn that Intel was charged with in 2009. Both Google and the commission has withheld from commenting on the proceedings so far.
