4 ms·

cost of doing business in EU when you're big

• Hamuko 8y ago
  The cost of engaging in anti-competitive behaviour in the EU.
  • dodobirdlord 8y ago
    As far as I can tell, being a large successful technology company is anti-competitive behavior in the EU. This fine, and the multi-billion dollar fine last year, and the multi-billion dollar fine the year before that all are apparently for violations from 2008-2016, before Google had wised up to the fact that the EU was going to get out of fines what it couldn't get out of taxes. There will be another multi-billion dollar fine next year. There will be another multi-billion dollar fine the year after that. Technology companies are sufficiently dependent on economies of scale that the commission will never run out of "anti-competitive practices" to fine them for and it will never be the right financial move to fracture enough to escape the commission's gaze. The whole Irish tax haven thing was crafty, but the EU has figured out how to get its slice of the pie.