It did not take 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 Android phone manufacturers, the answer was just as chilly.
The Silicon Valley research giant had waited at least a year too far to address the subject of a settlement, said Vestager, 50, in an interview. When a company wants to install, it must "contact immediately" the initial complaint or statement of opposition from the EU.
Google offers free Android software to cell phone manufacturers, but requires them to preinstall Google apps if they "This did not happen in this case, and of course, it takes the path that He took it now, "said Vestager about the settlement negotiations, which have not been reported previously. "So, no surprise."
Google, an Alphabet unit, was one of the EU's biggest antitrust targets, with three polls, countless headlines and a steady beating of small rivals and demanding customers. The company has now failed twice to find solutions to settle its business in its shopping and Android services, resulting in fines totaling 6.7 billion euros – with an imminent threat yet to come.
Google declined to comment on settlement attempts. The company will appeal the decision of the EU, said CEO 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. the probe in Android, one of the company's flagship products. Previous attempts to start a conversation with the EU on ways to end the investigation had failed to gain the upper hand, officials saying that it was too much early to negotiate, said people who knew the negotiations
The Mountain View, California
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Google offers free Android software to mobile phone manufacturers, but requires them to pre-install the applications of Google's they want the App Store Play, 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, which 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.
Google executives believed that Vestager she refused to rule out a settlement at the June 27, 2017 press conference where she announced fines in the shopping case.
"Every case is separate," she told reporters. "And, of course, I have not drawn any conclusion in the cases that are still open."
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 the contracts to relax restrictions that the EU did not like, even weighing the distribution of applications in two different ways. 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 from 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 have not found the offer convincing and have considered it too little too late, two other people
Vestager said in the l '; interview that an offer of settlement should have been made in 2016, after the company had received the EU Statement of Objections, which detailed the antitrust issues with android. The EU said the company could violate the rules of competition by unfairly pushing search and navigation apps on Android phones.
Vestager's incentives to make this case the emblem of his mandate were probably higher. So, the chances of a settlement were, for me, lower
That might have been the narrow window to settle the case, but Google's legal team was shooting dozens of plates in 2016. They had deadlines to respond to the Android charges, the survey of purchases was still a major priority and News Corp and other rivals filed new complaints with the EU.
After the reprimand, the EU stepped up its investigation, sending a formal "letter of fact" in November 2017, adding that new evidence, two people said. There was little substantive contact between the two parties until Google representatives discussed with EU officials in April at a so-called meeting on the Internet. case, which was well on its way to the record. I was very lucky to try to find a way to peace with the EU. He spent two years trying to negotiate a settlement in the shopping probe. But an agreement in principle came under fire from publishers and politicians, forcing the EU to abandon it shortly before Vestager became commissioner in November 2014.
One of the first Vestager's actions was to revive the Google Shopping survey, ending the botched settlement attempt. It has quickly gained a formidable reputation as a scourge of US technology giants. She ordered Apple to pay 13 billion euros in tax and fined 110 million euros to Facebook for allegations that the company allegedly misled regulators . , compared to shopping, is a case of Vestager, a non-inherited, "said Nicolas Petit, a visitor to the Hoover Institution and a law professor at the University of Liege in Belgium. "His incentives to make this case the emblem of his term 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, 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 to the gas industry. Europe
. The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia has fined the company $ 7.8 million in a settlement in April 2017 to put an end to an investigation of similar concerns about Android. – Reported by Aoife White and Stephanie Bodoni, with the assistance of Stephanie Bodoni, (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP
