After being fined 3 billion euros by the European Union, Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) will submit a rectification plan but refuse to completely dismantle its advertising technology business.

According to informed sources, after facing a fine of nearly 3 billion euros (approximately 3.5 billion US dollars), Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) will submit a proposal to adjust its advertising technology business before the deadline set by the European Union. However, this proposal will not include the complete breakup that the EU and industry competitors have previously pushed for. It is reported that the proposal must be submitted by early November at the latest. The sources stated that the proposal will avoid the full sale of Alphabet Inc. Class C's advertising management platform (Google Ad Manager, including AdX exchange platform and DoubleClick for Publishers) and added that the submission deadline may be delayed. On September 5th, the European Commission announced a 29.5 billion euro fine for Alphabet Inc. Class C, citing the company's abuse of dominance in the advertising technology market, damaging the competitive environment. The EU stated that Alphabet Inc. Class C was accused of abusing its power in the online advertising market by prioritizing its own services, harming competitors, advertisers, and online publishers, thereby undermining fair competition in the market. According to EU regulations, Alphabet Inc. Class C must submit its proposal to the European Commission by early November, within 60 days. The EU does not rule out the possibility of a structural breakup of Alphabet Inc. Class C's advertising technology business, but emphasizes that they "first want to hear and assess Alphabet Inc. Class C's own proposals." EU's antitrust chief Teresa Ribera hinted that the only way to ensure fair competition might be to divest certain "parts" of Alphabet Inc. Class C's advertising technology department. This stance is less clear than the previous demand to sell the advertising management platform made by former commissioner Margrethe Vestager. However, Alphabet Inc. Class C has always opposed any form of asset divestiture. It is worth noting that the EU increased the fine imposed on Alphabet Inc. Class C at the beginning of this month by 60% based on the draft amount, citing "repeat violations." This brings the total amount of antitrust fines issued to this American tech giant in the past decade to nearly 10 billion euros. Alphabet Inc. Class C has vowed to appeal. Both American and European competition regulators have determined that Alphabet Inc. Class C illegally dominates the advertising technology market. While the EU is concerned that taking action against one of America's largest companies could anger former US President Trump, litigation against Alphabet Inc. Class C is still ongoing domestically. External lawyers for Alphabet Inc. Class C stated that the US Department of Justice is seeking further action, forcing the sale of the AdX advertising exchange platform. The external lawyers revealed that the Department of Justice is seeking "full technical separation and divestiture" of AdX. Previously, a US judge ruled that Alphabet Inc. Class C illegally monopolized two advertising technology markets, and next week, the two sides will hold a two-week hearing to discuss the business breakup. Alphabet Inc. Class C's external lawyers stated that Alphabet Inc. Class C has indeed considered business divestitures, but their proposal is different from that of the Department of Justice. Alphabet Inc. Class C operates advertising buying, selling services, and trading platforms. The lawyer did not disclose the details of Alphabet Inc. Class C's settlement proposal. Previously, Alphabet Inc. Class C had proposed spinning off its app advertising auction business into a separate company while still retaining it within its structure. The judge ruled that the Department of Justice can disclose limited internal evaluations of the feasibility of technical separation within Alphabet Inc. Class C, emphasizing that technical feasibility is crucial in this case.