US tech firm Apple has been found guilty of anti-competitive behaviour by a French antitrust body and fined US$1.32 billion.
What happened
US tech firm Apple has been found guilty of anti-competitive behaviour by a French antitrust body and fined €1.1 billion (US$1.32 billion).
Why it matters
The firm was found to have fixed costs for its French wholesalers to force them to set retail prices aligned with Apple’s own, both in-store and online.
The fine is the largest ever imposed by the French antitrust body and addresses Apple’s actions to prevent the wholesalers from freely setting their own business policies. The two wholesalers were also hit with large fines.
“Apple and its two wholesalers agreed not to compete with each other and to prevent distributors from competing with each other,” read a statement from the French regulator, “thereby sterilising the wholesale market for Apple products”.
This news brief is based on reporting published by Inside Retail Asia on 2020-03-18. The original report is linked below.
Inside Retail Asia
https://insideretail.asia/2020/03/18/apple-fined-e1-2-billion-for-price-fixing-in-europe/This independent news brief is based on the public source identified above. It is an original summary or translation, not a reproduction of the source article. Rights in source text, research, trademarks and images remain with their respective owners; images are used under the licence or permission identified in the credit. Rights holders may contact rights@goodproductasia.com with evidence of ownership. Verified concerns will be corrected, replaced or removed promptly. This report is not investment, legal, medical or purchasing advice.
