Mark Patterson was quoted in a PBS NewsHour article about the European Union imposing a $5 billion fine on Google.
In Google’s case, the $5 billion fine represents approximately 1 percent of the company’s annual revenue, and half of the profit Google’s parent company Alphabet generated in the first quarter of this year alone.
“I think $5 billion is probably real money even to Google, but their core business is not threatened here,” said Mark Patterson, a law professor at Fordham University who has written a book on antitrust issues.
The $5 billion fine is the largest the European Commission has imposed on Google so far, but it’s not the first. It follows a $2.7 billion fine the commission levied against Google last year for promoting Google shopping over other shopping services in its search engine.