Those who thought Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was already having a bad day with its latest analyst downgrade will be unpleasantly surprised to note that it got worse as Tuesday’s trading session continued. Google lost another court case in Russia, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service hit Google with more fines. The Federal Antimonopoly Service in Russia slapped a four billion rouble fine on Google, which works out to roughly $46.8 million as of this writing.
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The new fine came after Google failed to pay a two billion rouble fine connected to its YouTube operations in the country. Google staged an appeal against the original two billion rouble fine, which was handed out in 2022, but no word came as to that. Now, Google has 60 days to pay the new $46.8 million fine.
Google has landed several fines over the years in Russia, to the point where Google’s Russian operations filed for bankruptcy back in 2022. It actually didn’t help matters that, according to a report from Reuters, Russian authorities seized the entirety of Russian Google’s bank account. That made it impossible to pay staff or vendors, not to mention government entities demanding yet more fines. Given that Google reported earnings of $69.79 billion back in April, it’s a safe bet the latest fine will hardly put a damper on its earnings.
Turning to Wall Street, Alphabet stock is currently considered a Strong Buy by analyst consensus with six Buy ratings and two Holds. However, with an average price target of $126.63 per share, Alphabet stock can only offer investors a paltry 6.32% upside potential.
