Google not fazed by US$2.7B Fine4 min read

Google was fined $2.7 billion by the European Commission.

Google has angered Europe however this time around, European regulators’ angst comes with a hefty price tag: with an approximate US$2.73 billion, fine to punish the Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL), subsidiary for pushing its product-search tool in its own search results.

In regards to the announcement of the ruling of the European Commission, member Margre the Vestager said in a statement Tuesday morning announcing the EC’s ruling.

“Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors”

Kent Walker general counsel for Google wrote in a blog post that the EU didn’t understand how product search now transcends traditional web queries, citing Amazon (AMZN) in particular as “a formidable competitor.” He said Google would continue to make its case in Europe.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, however, the company predicted that it will pay the fine by the middle of the year. It shouldn’t feel much pain, with $18.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents on its books at the end of March. And with no prospect of a comparable penalty from the U.S., stateside searches probably won’t look any different anytime soon.