Google faces a record antitrust fine
of around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from the European Commission in the
coming weeks, British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph said.
The European Union has accused
Google of promoting its shopping service in Internet searches at the expense of
rival services in a case that has dragged on since late 2010.
Several people familiar with the
matter told Reuters last month they believed that after three failed attempts
at a compromise in the past six years Google now had no plans to try to settle
the allegations unless the EU watchdog changed its stance.
The Telegraph cited sources close
to the situation as saying officials planned to announce the fine as early as
next month, but that the bill had not yet been finalised.
Google will also be banned from
continuing to manipulate search results to favour itself and harm rivals, the
newspaper said.
The Commission can fine firms up
to 10 percent of their annual sales, which in Google's case would be a maximum
possible sanction of more than 6 billion euros. The biggest antitrust fine to
date was a 1.1 billion-euro fine imposed on chip-maker Intel in 2009.
The Commission and Google both
declined to comment.
($1 = 0.8841 euros)
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan in
London and Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Clelia Oziel, Greg Mahlich)
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