Will Google be a next 'Microsoft case'?
谷歌是否会重蹈微软覆辙
How bad will it be for Google on the EU's allegation? Analysts say the company could be fined up to 10 percent of its worldwide revenue if the probe finds it abused its market power.
At the same time, they also mentioned that if the investigation expands to a bigger range, the EU's case against Google could become as big as the one with Microsoft, which had been lasting for 10 years.
"A number of years ago Microsoft got into trouble in the EU (European Union) and the EU imposed a massive fine of over a billion euros. Microsoft didn't stop what it was doing to the satisfaction of the EU, and so the EU fined them again, another billion euros, at which point Microsoft stopped, so hat's probably the way they'll go at this," said Gary Reback, antitrust lawyer.
"Well Google could at any point try to settle the case, and I suspect at some point they would, but I think the Europeans have been after Google for a while now and they've tried to settle four or five different times, and Google wouldn't give them enough in the way of a change of behaviour to warrant that in their view, so finally they just sued them."