Shares in Alphabet (GOOGL) were higher today despite the European Union slapping down a $3.47 billion antitrust fine over its digital advertising services.
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The fine flies in the face of President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings to the EU not to target U.S. big tech.
Illegal Behavior
“Google abused its dominant position in adtech harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers. This behaviour is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said.
The EU has been probing Google over adtech since 2021 and in 2023 recommended the company sell part of its ad services to ensure fair competition.
Google said the commission’s decision was “wrong” and it would appeal.
“It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money,” said the firm’s global head of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland. “There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before.”
Not So Fine
Today’s announcement is the third fine imposed in a week against Google.
A US federal jury on Wednesday ordered Google to pay about $425 million for gathering information from smartphone app use even when people opted for privacy settings.
The same day, France’s data protection authority fined it 325 million euros for failing to respect the law on internet cookies.
It is why legal and regulatory matters are key for investors in tech companies like Google – see below:
However, it’s not all been bad news for Google after a U.S. judge earlier this week rejected calls for it to sell its Chrome web browser as part of an antitrust case.
It will be interesting to see how Trump reacts to the latest EU fine, especially at a time when the EU is still waiting for the U.S. to lower tariffs on cars agreed under the trade deal signed by the two parties in July.
Is GOOGL a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, GOOGL has a Strong Buy consensus based on 29 Buy and 9 Hold ratings. Its highest price target is $280. GOOGL stock’s consensus price target is $231.94, implying a 0.93% downside.
