French Court Lowers Antitrust Fine Against Apple Over Third-Party Retailer Pricing - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

French Court Lowers Antitrust Fine Against Apple Over Third-Party Retailer Pricing

by

An appeals court in France today lowered a fine levied against Apple by the French Competition Authority due to alleged "anti-competitive behaviour towards its distribution and retail network," according to Reuters. The report claims the fine has been lowered to 372 million euros, down from the original amount of 1.1 billion euros.

Apple Premium Reseller
The antitrust regulator fined Apple in 2020 after finding that it imposed prices on Apple Authorized Resellers in France so that prices were in line with those charged at Apple Stores and on Apple.com. The fine was reduced after the appeals court dropped one of the three main charges related to price-fixing allegations, and significantly lowered the rate applied to calculate the overall fine, according to the report.

The investigation began after a dispute between Apple and one of its leading French wholesalers, which alleged that it went out of business due to Apple's uncompetitive rules. When fined in 2020, Apple said the French Competition Authority's decision was "disheartening" and "discards thirty years of legal precedent."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

G
genovelle
46 months ago

You know...when will governments realize that fining Apple $350 mil is NOTHING. Apple makes over $15 BILLION every 3 months. You fined them nothing and they are zero reasons to change. These laws need to be changed to be a % of yearly earnings. Instead of $350 Mil, it should have been 5% of 2020 profits. Maybe then Apple will take these seriously.
So Apple has rules and offered the contract in place. The Wholesaler decided to agree to those terms but claim apple is being anticompetitive. Truth is. They don’t have to offer their products to wholesalers and won’t if it impacts their bottom line. The problem is Apple is one of the few companies that is structured properly. There is no reason to loose money to do business just to claim market share. That is a common go to market strategy and the reason so few companies make it.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
mystery hill
46 months ago

Why does an American company have to listen to some European country?

If you don’t like iPhones - don’t sell them.
Because that American company really wants money from Europeans.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
AhRiHmAn
46 months ago

Why does an American company have to listen to some European country?

If you don’t like iPhones - don’t sell them.
Well isn't it a bit simplistic way of thinking? 😅
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BaldiMac Avatar
BaldiMac
46 months ago

You know...when will governments realize that fining Apple $350 mil is NOTHING. Apple makes over $15 BILLION every 3 months. You fined them nothing and they are zero reasons to change. These laws need to be changed to be a % of yearly earnings. Instead of $350 Mil, it should have been 5% of 2020 profits. Maybe then Apple will take these seriously.

372 million euros is roughly USD$365,635,080.00.

Is it a lot of money? Yes, to us common people. But not for Apple.

Apple had a profit of $19.4 billion last quarter ('https://www.macrumors.com/2022/07/28/apple-3q-2022-results/'). That means Apple's profit was roughly $215,555,555 per day. Apple can pay off this fine in less than 2 days.
I don't think it's reasonable for individual countries to fine Apple based on global profits. You should compare the fine to their French revenue.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
I7guy
46 months ago

You know...when will governments realize that fining Apple $350 mil is NOTHING. Apple makes over $15 BILLION every 3 months. You fined them nothing and they are zero reasons to change. These laws need to be changed to be a % of yearly earnings. Instead of $350 Mil, it should have been 5% of 2020 profits. Maybe then Apple will take these seriously.
You don't think Apple is entitled to the same fairness?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G
gnipgnop
46 months ago
They dropped the price fixing charges. Apple is still appealing the ruling by saying that the FCA knows that the other charges are based on "practices from more than a decade ago that even the (French authority) recognised are no longer in use."
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments