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> rather high standards of enforcement and corporate governance in the US require less EU intervention More likely that US companies are so comparatively wealt
by hopler 8y ago
> rather high standards of enforcement and corporate governance in the US require less EU intervention
More likely that US companies are so comparatively wealthy that even apparently large fines aren't as large as fraction of revenue. Anchoring fallacy.
- adventured 8y agoThat's one part of the story. There's only one tech company in all of Europe that can easily digest a $1.7 billion fine. SAP is Europe's most profitable tech company by far. About $4.5 billion in net income ($7b in operating income). The US has at least 16 tech companies at that level of profit or higher. Just Microsoft + Google + Amazon + Facebook + Apple = $185 billion in annual operating income. In terms of sales, those five combined companies are the size of Turkey or Saudia Arabia in GDP (they'd be around the 19th or 18th largest economy in the world).
- kittiepryde 8y agoIs profit and annual operating income supposed to be equivalent?
- duado 8y agoOperating income is usually a better way of measuring the health of a business than net profit since it excludes one-time charges and taxes.
- adventured 8y agoI used operating income for the US tech companies because the recent accounting changes can make net income an unusually volatile figure. SAP's operating income had been stable for several years so I guessed it had remained pretty similar to 2017 figures. It did jump decently for 2018, to around the high $6.x billion area. Going on that (a proper direct comparison), it's more like ~27 SAPs.
- matt4077 8y agoI was using economic activity (i. e. revenue) in the EU, not worldwide. A company not operating in the EU shouldn't be fined, obviously.