LONDON (AP) — Google won a court challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) European Union antitrust fine imposed five years ago that targeted its online advertising business.
The EU's General Court said it was throwing out the 2019 penalty imposed by the European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer.
“The General Court annuls the Commission’s decision in its entirety,” the court said in a press release.
The commission's ruling applied to a narrow portion of Google’s ad business: ads that the U.S. tech giant sold next to Google search results on third-party websites.
Regulators had accused Google of inserting exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google’s rivals. The commission said when it issued the penalty that Google's behavior resulted in advertisers and website owners having less choice and likely facing higher prices that would be passed on to consumers.
But the General Court said the commission “committed errors” when it assessed those clauses. The commission failed to demonstrate that Google's contracts deterred innovation, harmed consumers or helped the company hold on to and strengthen its dominant position in national online search advertising markets, it said.
The ruling can be appealed, but only on points of law, to the Court of Justice, the bloc's top court.
The commission said in a brief statement that it “will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps.”
Google said it changed its contracts in 2016 to remove the provisions in question, even before the commission imposed its decision.
“We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision and annulled the fine,” Google said in a statement. "We will review the full decision closely.”
The company's legal victory comes a week after it lost a final challenge against a separate EU antitrust case for its shopping comparison service that also involved a hefty fine.
They were among three antitrust penalties totaling about 8 billion euros that the commission punished Google with in the previous decade. The penalties marked the beginning of an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
Since then, Google has faced escalating pressure on both sides of the Atlantic over its digital ad business. It’s currently battling the Justice Department in a U.S. federal court over allegations that its dominance over the technology that controls the sale of billions of internet display ads constitutes an illegal monopoly.
British competition regulators this month accused the company of abusing its dominance in the country’s digital ad market and giving preference to its own services.
EU antitrust enforcers carrying out their own investigation suggested last year that breaking up the company was the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its digital ad business.
FILE - In this April 17, 2007 file photo, exhibitors work on laptop computers in front of an illuminated sign of the Google logo at the industrial fair Hannover Messe in Hanover, Germany. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)
TOKYO (AP) — Hong Kong’s share benchmark has fallen more than 9% as traders dumped shares following recent sharp gains.
The Hang Seng index lost 9.4% to close at 20,926.79. Technology and China-related shares led the decline.
Hong Kong shares had logged strong gains over the past week while markets in mainland China were closed for a weeklong holiday. The advances were fueled by recent announcements of plans by Beijing for more support for the economy and for financial markets.
Shares initially soared in Shanghai on Tuesday but then gave up a chunk of those gains as details of economic stimulus plans from officials in Beijing fell short of what investors were hoping for. Shares elsewhere in Asia declined.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Shares soared Tuesday in Shanghai as Chinese markets reopened after a weeklong holiday but then gave up a chunk of their initial gains as the details of Beijing's plans to revive the world's second-largest economy appeared to fall flat.
The Shanghai Composite index was up 3.1% at 3,438.16, though in Shenzhen, Japan's smaller market, the main index gained 6.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 7.6% to 21,336.70 as traders, apparently underwhelmed by the update from Beijing, sold to lock in profits from recent gains.
The Shanghai benchmark initially gained 10% but fell back as officials of China's main economic planning agency briefed reporters about a slew of policies announced earlier that were meant to address various problems such as a protracted slump in the property market.
“China’s markets rally has hit a wall, leaving investors deflated. The reopening surge from the week-long holiday barely had time to gather steam before fizzling out, and now the once-thrilled bulls are licking their wounds,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Elsewhere in Asia, markets were mostly lower.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 1.3% to 38,842.75. as the dollar fell to 147.89 Japanese yen from 148.18 yen. A weaker yen tends to push share prices higher.
The Kospi in Seoul declined 0.4% to 2,599.96. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.4% to 8,176.90.
On Monday, U.S. stocks slid after Treasury yields hit their highest levels since the summer and oil prices continued to climb.
The S&P 500 dropped 1% to 5,695.94 and is still close to its all-time high set a week earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 41,954.24, coming off its own record. The Nasdaq composite sank 1.2% to 17,923.90.
It’s a stall for U.S. stocks after they rallied to records on relief that interest rates are finally heading back down, now that the Federal Reserve has widened its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation. A blowout report on U.S. jobs growth released Friday raised optimism about the economy and hopes that the Fed can pull off a perfect landing for it.
When Treasury bonds, which are seen as the safest possible investments, are paying more in interest, investors become less inclined to pay very high prices for stocks and other things that carry bigger risk of losing money.
It’s more difficult to look attractive to investors seeking income when a 10-year Treasury is paying a 4.02% yield, up from 3.97% late Friday and from 3.62% three weeks ago.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, jumped more on Monday. It rose to 3.99% from 3.92% late Friday.
Treasury yields may also be feeling upward push from the recent jump in oil prices. Crude prices have been spurting higher on worries that worsening tensions in the Middle East could ultimately lead to disruptions in the flow of oil.
Brent crude, the international standard, shed $1.23 to $79.70 per barrel. It had jumped 3.7% Monday. Benchmark U.S. crude, meanwhile, slipped $1.21 to $75.93. It also gained 3.7% on Monday.
Stocks that are seen as the most expensive can feel the most downward pressure from higher Treasury yields, and the spotlight has been on Big Tech stocks. They drove the majority of the S&P 500’s returns in recent years and soared to heights that critics called overdone.
Apple fell 2.3%, Amazon dropped 3% and Alphabet sank 2.4% to act as some of Monday's heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
An exception was Nvidia, which rose another 2.3%. It rode another upswell in excitement about artificial-intelligence technology after Super Micro Computer soared 15.8% after saying it recently shipped more than 100,000 graphics processing units with liquid cooling.
If Treasury yields keep rising, companies will likely need to deliver bigger profits to drive their stock prices much higher, and this week marks the start of the latest corporate earnings reporting season.
Analysts say earnings per share grew 4.2% during the summer for S&P 500 companies from a year earlier, led by technology and health care companies, according to FactSet. If those analysts are correct, it would be a fifth straight quarter of growth.
In other dealings early Tuesday, the euro rose to $1.0982 from $1.0977.
AP Business Writer Stan Choe in New York contributed.
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is shown on Sept. 24, 2024., 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
