Rivals get longer to comment on Google EU antitrust offer: Report

Rivals get longer to comment on Google EU antitrust offer: Report
Advertisement
EU antitrust regulators have given some of Google's rivals more time to study its proposals to settle anti-competitive complaints, which could provide more leverage to pry further concessions from the Internet search giant.

The European Commission last month told interested parties they had until May 26 to say if they are satisfied with the offer by the world's most popular search engine to mark out its services from rival products in Internet search results.

The EU antitrust authority has given some rivals until June 27 to complete their technical analysis of Google's proposals, said one person familiar with the matter.

The regulator is able to grant extensions if there are strong grounds for doing so. A Commission competition spokesman, Antoine Colombani, declined to comment on the Google case.

Several Google competitors and complainants about the company's practices have been critical of the proposed settlement, which includes providing links to at least three competing search engines, and allowing rivals to stop Google from using specific information.

According to British price comparison site Foundem, Google's offer would only reinforce its dominance. Google has more than 80 percent share of the market in Europe, according to research firm comScore.

Other critics said the proposal would force rivals to compete among themselves, raising their costs and increasing merchants' dependency on Google.

If Google clinches a deal with the Commission, it would avoid a finding of infringement of competition rules and a possible fine that could be as much as $5 billion or 10 percent of its global revenue.

© Thomson Reuters 2013

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Antitrust, EU Antitrust, Google
Syria government supporters hack The Financial Times
All eyes on Vodafone's Vittorio Colao for signs on Verizon
Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat LinkedIn Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News

Advertisement

Follow Us
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »