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EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager coldly hit Google with a fine of 4.3 billion euros ($ 5 billion) last week, the heaviest penalty of the history of antitrust enforcement
. 19659002] A year earlier, while the company – already under a fine of 2.4 billion euros in another European case – was quietly trying to close the deal with manufacturers of Android phones, the answer was also chilly. [19659002LegéantdelarecherchedelaSiliconValleyavaitattenduaumoinsunandetroppouraborderlesujetd'unrèglementadéclaréVestagerâgéde50ansdansuneinterviewQuanduneentrepriseveuts'installerelledoit"tendrelamainimmédiatementaprès"avoirreçulaplainteinitialeoulacommunicationdesgriefsdel'EU
"This s & # 39; not happen in this case and of course she takes the road that & # 39; it has now taken , "Vestager said settlement negotiations, which have not been reported previously." So, no surprises. "
Google, a division of Alphabet Inc., was the only company in the world. one of the biggest antitrust targets in the EU, with three polls, countless headlines and a steady beating of small rivals and demanding customers.The company has now failed twice to strike regulations that would solve the cases in its commercial and Android departments that resulted in a total of 6.7 billion euros in sales. fines – with a looming threat of even more to come.
Google declined to comment on settlement attempts. Google will appeal the EU's decision, said managing director Sundar Pichai in a blog post. The company has "shown that we are ready to make changes," he said.
In the weeks following the fine of June 2017, Google's lawyers began making representations to their European counterparts to express their willingness to settle the probe in Android, one of the flagship products of the company. Previous attempts to initiate a conversation with the EU on ways to end the investigation had failed to catch fire, authorities saying it was too much early to negotiate, said people who knew the negotiations
The Mountain View, California "
Google offers free Android software to mobile phone manufacturers, but requires them to pre-install Google's apps. they want to use the Play Store, which offers more than a million programs. The search giant also pays phone manufacturers, telecom operators and other browser makers to run Google's search engine that collects user data. Through these agreements, Google has recorded nearly $ 50 billion in annual sales in the mobile market, a third of the global market, according to the EMarketer research firm.
According to Google, Vestager left the door open to rule out a settlement at the June 27, 2017 press conference where she announced fines in the shopping business.
"Every case is separate," she told reporters. "Obviously, I have not drawn any conclusions in the still open cases."
Encouraged, Google's lawyers wrote a letter in August suggesting possible changes to address EU concerns, according to people close to the discussions. Google said it was ready to adjust contracts to ease restrictions that the EU did not like, even by weighing the distribution of applications in two different ways in the future. The letter did not go into details, only establishing a plan to start talks, according to the people, who refused to be identified because the initial conversations with the regulators were confidential.
Lawyers have never received a formal answer. officials that a regulation was no longer an option. It even prevented them from discussing whether the company would be willing to pay a fine under an agreement, people said.
EU officials did not find the offer convincing and judged it too little too late, two other people
Vestager said in the interview that a settlement offer should have been made in 2016, after the company had received the EU Statement of Objections, which detailed antitrust issues with Android. The EU said the company could break the rules of competition by unfairly pushing search and navigation apps on Android phones.
This could have been the narrow window to settle the case, but Google's legal team was filming dozens of plates in 2016 To answer the accusations of Android, the investigation into Purchasing was still a top priority and News Corp. and other rivals have filed new complaints with the EU.
After the rebuff, the EU stepped up its investigation by sending an official letter. "factual letter" in November 2017, adding new evidence, two people said, there has been little substantial contact between the two parties until Google representatives discuss with officials of the EU in April at a so-called meeting on the state of the situation, which was on track.
Google was not very lucky when trying to find a way towards peace with the EU.He spent two years trying to negotiate a settlement in the shopping probe.But an agreement in principle has come under heavy fire from publishers and politicians, forcing the EU to leaving her shortly before Vestager became Commissioner in November 2014.
One of Vestager's first acts was to relaunch the Google Shopping survey, ending the botched settlement attempt. quickly accumulated a formidable reputation as a scourge of American tech giants She has ordered Apple Inc. to pay 13 billion euros in taxes and fined 110 million euros to Facebook Inc. for allegations that the company would have misled regulators during a review of the merger
. inherited, "said Nicolas Petit, visiting researcher at the Hoover Institution and law professor at the University of Liege in Belgium. "His incentives to make this case the emblem of his tenure were probably higher, so the chances of a settlement were, for me, lower."
The EU n & # 39 is not always opposed to the conclusion of an agreement even after a long investigation. Gazprom PJSC, the nation 's state – controlled gas export giant, has avoided a potentially huge penalty after a seven – year investigation by agreeing in May to change the way it sells gas at the same time. Europe
. Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service fined the company $ 7.8 million as part of a settlement reached in April 2017 to end an investigation into similar problems in Russia. Android
(With the help of Stephanie Bodoni)
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