EU regulators hit Google with a record EUR 4.34 billion ($5 billion or roughly Rs. 34,300 crores) antitrust fine on Wednesday for using its Android mobile operating system to squeeze out rivals.
The penalty is nearly double the previous record of EUR 2.4 billion (roughly Rs. 19,100 crores) which the US tech company was ordered to pay last year over its online shopping search service.
The fine represents just over two weeks of revenue for Google parent Alphabet and would scarcely dent its cash reserves of $102.9 billion (roughly Rs. 7 lakh crores). But it could add to a brewing trade war between Brussels and Washington.
Android, which runs about 80 percent of the world’s smartphones according to market research firm Strategy Analytics, is the most important case out of a trio of antitrust cases against Google.
Google said it would appeal the fine.
