EU: Google CEO to meet with Vestager

Google’s chief executive will meet with the European Union’s antitrust chief in Brussels on Friday, a week after Google filed its latest response to the EU’s barrage of antitrust cases against the search giant.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, will meet with the EU’s Margrethe Vestager, at the tail end of a short European trip this week, Google said on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the European Commission—the bloc’s antitrust regulator—confirmed the meeting, and said that it would cover antitrust issues.

The face-to-face discussion is the first between Mr. Pichai and Ms. Vestager since February. It comes as Google is bogged down in three sets of formal antitrust charges from the EU, covering multiple areas of its business, including its Android mobile operating system and its shopping-search service.

Google last week responded to allegations that it abuses the dominance of Android to promote its own search engine and apps by arguing that the operating system has helped competition rather than undermining it.

A week before, the company also rebutted allegations that it abused its dominance to promote its shopping service and a niche advertising product.

If the EU deems Google guilty, the regulator could impose hefty fines in each of the three cases and require that Google overhaul its operations in parts. The tech giant could also face costs and delays associated with years of legal battles, against the EU as well as private litigants seeking compensation for damages.

Full Content: The Wall Street Journal

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