Microsoft did not hold up its end of a 2009 bargain with European Union regulators to give its users the option to use Web browsers other than Internet Explorer, and now it must pay. The EU fined the software company $731 million for violating the terms of its agreement. This amount hardly makes a dent in the company’s wallet-it’s only about 1 percent of Microsoft’s 2012 revenues-but it brings the amount of money owed in penalties over the last decade to a whopping €2.24 billion euros, about $2.9 billion.
“I hope this decision will make companies think twice,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said at a press conference today. Read more at Bloomberg.
{Andy Heller-Matzav.com Newscenter}
