Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), the parent company of Google, has put forward a second bid at the European Union’s top court to overturn the penalty of $2.8 billion, imposed by the European Union’s antitrust regulators, Reuters reported.
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Background
Back in 2017, the well-known internet search engine was penalized by the EU Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager for breaching competition rules linked to its shopping-ads service. The company’s usage of its own price comparison shopping service was to gain an undue advantage over smaller European rivals, regulators argued.
In November, the first bid filed by Google to dismiss the fine was rejected by the EU’s General Court. It claimed the European Commission’s findings to be appropriate, which indicated that the company’s practices had harmed competition.
Official Comments
Backing its second appeal, a Google spokesperson said in a statement, “After careful consideration, we have decided to appeal the General Court’s decision because we feel there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice.”
“Irrespective of the appeal, we continue to invest in our remedy, which has been working successfully for several years, and will continue to work constructively with the European Commission,” the person added.
Wall Street’s Take
Recently, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak maintained a Buy rating on Alphabet and increased the price target to $3,430 (28.65% upside potential) from $3,200.
Consensus among analysts is a Strong Buy based on 26 Buys versus 2 Holds. The average Alphabet stock forecast price of $3,387.59 implies 26.53% upside potential from current levels. Shares have gained 40.9% over the past year.
Smart Score
Alphabet scores a “Perfect 10” from TipRanks’ Smart Score rating system. This makes it one of TipRanks’ Top Stocks and implies that the stock has strong potential to outperform market expectations.
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