PriceRunner sues Google for 2.1 bln euros, prepares for long fight (updated)
07/02/2022 09:31
(Adds comments from PriceRunner CEO interview, background)
By Supantha Mukherjee
STOCKHOLM, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Swedish price comparison firm
PriceRunner said on Monday it is suing Alphabet-owned GOOGL.O
Google for about 2.1 billion euros ($2.40 billion), the latest
firm to take legal action alleging the search giant manipulated
search results.
Google in November lost an appeal against a
2.42-billion-euro fine it received in 2017 which found using its
own price comparison shopping service gave the company an unfair
advantage over smaller European rivals. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2S13XI
"They are still abusing the market to a very high extent and
haven't changed basically anything," PriceRunner CEO Mikael
Lindahl told Reuters in an interview.
PriceRunner, which is in the process of being bought by
fintech Klarna, said a lawsuit it filed in Sweden aims to make
Google pay compensation for the profit it has lost in the UK
since 2008, as well as in Sweden and Denmark since 2013.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lindahl said PriceRunner is prepared to fight for many
years, has secured tens of millions of euros in external
financing, and has steps in place in the event it does not win.
The European Commission's 2017 fine was the result of a
seven-year investigation triggered by scores of complaints that
Google distorted internet search results to favour its shopping
service, harming both rivals and consumers.
The Commission found https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_17_1784
that Google had systematically given prominent placement to its
own comparison shopping service and demoted rival comparison
shopping services in its search results.
Axel Springer's SPRGn.DE price comparison shopping service
Idealo https://www.idealo.de/unternehmen/pressemitteilungen/idealo-suing-google-for-damages-caused-by-its-abuse-of-market-dominance
then sued Google in 2019 for 500 million euros.
Investment firm Creades CREADa.ST in November agreed to
sell PriceRunner to Swedish payments firm Klarna for 1.06
billion Swedish crowns ($124.36 million). urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2RT27U
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.
($1 = 0.8749 euros)
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee, European Technology &
Telecoms Correspondent, based in Stockholm; editing by Simon
Johnson and Jason Neely)
((supantha.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; +46 70 721 1004;
Reuters Messaging:
supantha.mukherjee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))