That's small money for the Google.
Last year they gave Google €4.34bn fine and in year 2017 they gave Google €2.42bn fine.
Last year they gave Google €4.34bn fine and in year 2017 they gave Google €2.42bn fine.
At what point does Big Corp run out of things to abuse?
If the fines just become a cost of doing business the finance and legal teams can probably get creative and invent new ways of mashing up old abuses over time.
I think the underlying theme here, then, is that the fines are necessary but not sufficient.
It's very simplistic to look at their yearly revenue and say they can just absorb it. If the money they made off of an activity like this was less than the fine, absorbing it won't make sense.
Finally, Google is also liable to face civil actions for damages that can be brought before the courts of the Member States by any person or business affected by its anti-competitive behaviour. The new EU Antitrust Damages Directive makes it easier for victims of anti-competitive practices to obtain damages.
Imagine if Google went to jail and had to work for 13 cents an hour making license plates.
Personally i also think getting fined constantly is not a reliable business model. :)
As for larger ever US fine - perhaps for Google. US can also be rough.
https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/european-banks-face-dispro...
Both seem to perfectly consistent with New York being the world's premier financial center and Europe being somewhat renown for stronger consumer protection.
(which leaves Volkswagen as a terribly embarrassing example of regulatory capture in Germany)
Some German states own parts of VW and clearly would prefer to believe it to be honest mistake VW has learned from. No one should be surprised that the Deutsche Bank are criminals either. I dont think those cases are anything more then corruption preventing proper prosecution. Big corporations simply get away with a lot of stuff if its politically inconvenient. I mean the HSBC laundered billions for drug cartels. Heckler and Koch breached weapon embargos. Non of that is in any way a grey area but plain and simply criminal conspiracy.
One only has to take a peek at the HSBC cartel scandals to know that's patently bullshit.
HSBC is a British bank. Yet, skimming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC#Controversies it appears almost all investigations and fines were the result of SEC and other US investigations.