Italian group Moltiply is suing Alphabet-owned Google (GOOGL) for $3.34 billion for allegedly abusing its market position and damaging its growth.
Google In European Firing Line
Moltiply, which operates the price comparison website Trovaprezzi.it, said Google’s actions had hindered the growth of its subsidiary 7Pixel between 2010 and 2017, favoring Google Shopping instead.
According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the claim was filed at a Milan court but it did not provide any further details. Alphabet stock was defiant rising 0.47% in pre-market trading.
The European Commission fined Google in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals. In September, the company lost a final appeal against the $2.7 billion fine.
Google has been in the European firing line for some time having been fined more than $8.7 billion by the EU in recent decades on competition grounds.
Back in March, the European Commission’s competition watchdog issued preliminary findings charging Google with breaching the Digital Markets Act. The first charge concerned Google’s app store Google Play. Antitrust regulators said Alphabet technically prevents app developers from freely steering consumers to other channels for better offers.
In the second charge, regulators said Google favored its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over rivals.
European Independence
It risks fines of up to 10% of its global annual sales if found guilty of breaching the Digital Markets Act. This can be doubled to 20% for repeat offenders.
Other U.S. tech firms such as Apple (AAPL) have also been fined by European regulators this year as concern over their dominance in European markets grows. There are also fears over President Trump’s faltering commitment to defending European security.
In response Europe is looking to bolster its own digital sector to remove this dependency on the U.S.
Is GOOGL a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, GOOGL has a Strong Buy consensus based on 28 Buy and 9 Hold ratings. Its highest price target is $240. GOOGL stock’s consensus price target is $197.69 implying an 28.14% upside.
