Until these fines become meaningful, companies will just continue breaking the law and asking for forgiveness later, as the changes to their market cap can offset this fine in hours.
Tax bills have to be paid in cash, not stock. A better analogy is to simply look at Apple’s net profits, since that’s where the money will come from.
$13B is not nothing, even for Apple.
Might give a slight wobble in the stock price, but that's nothing unusual for AAPL at this time of year anyway.
Up until recent years the EU didn’t even know if it could take action against U.S. based tech giants. Now that the EU has established wins in fines, usb-c, user replaceable batteries, and alternate app stores, I expect EU regulators to take even bolder action.
What do you mean by that? Due to geopolitics? Or at a technical level of the current law?
Geopolitics, but the technical level of law certainly plays a part. Europe had no idea what the effect of leveling lawsuits against a fortune one company would yield. However the EU has proven rather adept at identifying technological practices harming consumers and a strong capacity for rectifying them. Now that the EU is beginning to find its stride, I expect it to become more assertive in how international commerce is conducted.
(This is in addition to the other commentators, who have correctly pointed out that if you just divide market cap by the fine, you're producing a number that isn't useful for anything but misleading people).
We are assigning moral value to this? You don’t think EU is a self interested party looking to interpret the law as favorably as they can?
13bn would cover the cost of Dublin's first metro system, unlike most European capitals Dublin does not have a metro. This is what this ruling means for the Irish public. shame on the government putting corporate interests ahead of public finances.
Given the propensity for the EU to throw us under the bus when the Teutonic books don't balance, its a lot more important for us to maintain our special cultural, economical and political relationship with the USA.
In any case, that money would never end up ringfenced for a Metro that has been in planning hell since the 80s. We're well able to afford white elephants (e.g. the new Children's Hospital).
It's an odd comparison and is dishonest to minimize the payment through a speculative value that the market decided on. If Apple owned 50% of the shares and sold all their shares today, they would not be getting 50% of that $3T because of market forces.