After being fined 3 billion euros by the EU, Google will submit a rectification plan but refuses to fully split its advertising technology business

According to informed sources, after facing a fine of nearly 3 billion euros (approximately 3.5 billion USD), Google (GOOGL.US) will submit a plan to adjust its advertising technology business before the deadline set by the European Union, but the plan will not include the comprehensive split previously pushed by the EU and industry competitors.

It is reported that the plan must be submitted by early November at the latest. Sources indicate that the plan will avoid a complete sale of Google Ad Manager (including the AdX trading platform and DoubleClick for Publishers) and added that the submission deadline may still be postponed.

On September 5, the European Commission announced a fine of 2.95 billion euros against Google for abusing its dominant position in the advertising technology market, harming the competitive environment. The EU stated that Google was accused of abusing its power in the online advertising market by prioritizing its own services, harming the interests of competitors, advertisers, and online publishers, thereby damaging the fair competitive environment in the market.

According to EU regulations, Google must submit its solution to the European Commission by early November, within 60 days. The EU also does not rule out the possibility of implementing a structural split of Google's advertising technology business but emphasizes that "first, we want to hear and evaluate Google's own proposals."

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera hinted that the only way to ensure fair competition may be for Google to divest certain "parts" of its advertising technology department. This statement is more ambiguous than that of her predecessor Margrethe Vestager, who explicitly demanded the sale of the advertising management platform. However, Google has consistently opposed any form of asset divestiture.

It is worth mentioning that the fine imposed on Google by the EU earlier this month was increased by 60% from the draft amount due to "repeated violations." This brings the total amount of EU antitrust fines against the American tech giant to nearly 10 billion euros over the past decade. Google has vowed to appeal.

Both U.S. and European competition authorities have determined that Google illegally dominates the advertising technology market. Although the EU is concerned that targeting one of America's largest companies may provoke dissatisfaction from former President Trump, lawsuits against Google are still ongoing in the U.S. Google's external lawyers stated that the U.S. Department of Justice is pushing further to force the sale of the AdX advertising trading platform. The external lawyer revealed that the Department of Justice is seeking to implement "complete technical separation and divestiture" of AdX.

Previously, a U.S. judge ruled that Google illegally monopolized two advertising technology markets, and a two-week hearing will be held next week to discuss business separation matters. Google's external lawyer stated that Google has indeed considered business divestiture, but it differs from the Department of Justice's proposal. Google operates advertising purchasing, sales services, and trading platforms. The lawyer did not disclose details of Google's settlement proposal. Google had previously proposed to spin off its app advertising auction business into an independent company while still retaining it within the structure The judge ruled that the Department of Justice may disclose, to a limited extent, Google's internal assessment results regarding the feasibility of technology separation, emphasizing that technological feasibility is key to the case