欧盟真能分拆谷歌吗？

    不过，如果欧盟真的启动违法追责，谷歌可能要为有违法行为的这几年，缴纳最高相当于全球年收入10%的罚款，也就是高达几十亿美元的天价。但是实际情况则要保守一些。欧盟历史上最高一笔反垄断罚款是几年前针对英特尔（Intel）发动的，刚刚超过了英特尔全球年收入的4%——这还是欧盟最高法院提高罚金后的比例。

    帕普表示，如果将谷歌的搜索业务与广告业务进行拆分，谷歌就没法继续通过搜索结果来赚钱。他认为这样的举动是“荒谬的”，理由是“谷歌搜索引擎之所以对用户是免费的，就是因为谷歌可以从广告商那里获得收入，而且可以引导消费者直达他们的垂直搜索结果。就像报纸一样，有些报纸之所以免费，是因为它可以高价卖广告位。”

    巴尔托也认为拆分谷歌是一个只有少数人会认真考虑的“极端提案”。他表示：“谷歌非常依赖产品之间的协同增效，以及各种产品的广告收入，这样他们才能做他们所做的事。”如果谷歌的搜索业务与广告服务“解绑”，消费者的利益可能会受到损害。

    对于此案牵涉的各方来说，政治因素仍然是一个痛点。欧盟议会这次行动的不同寻常之处在于，此次投票之前没有进行任何质询。布鲁塞尔的反垄断律师马休•霍尔表示，支持和反对谷歌的各方都在此案中推动他们各自的解决方案。

    在担任欧盟反垄断负责人期间，阿尔穆尼亚曾明确声称，他不会受政治因素左右。现在还不清楚维斯塔格尔最终会选择走哪条路，打哪张牌。欧盟委员会的一位发言人表示：维斯塔格尔“首先要听那些最直接受谷歌做法影响的人士的观点，然后决定如何对谷歌商业行为采取进一步的反垄断调查。”

    巴尔托还是比较乐观的：“有好的迹象表明维斯塔格尔不会被左右，我不认为这种推迟会导致匆忙判决。”（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    Still, a move toward an infringement decision could leave Google facing fines of up to 10 percent of its annual global sales for the affected years, a staggering amount totaling billions of dollars. The reality has been more conservative. The biggest antitrust fine in the region’s history—levied against Intel years ago but later upped by Europe’s top court—barely broke 4 percent.

    Splitting up Google by unbundling its search business from its advertising business would leave the company without a way to make money from its search results, Wagner-von Papp says. Such a move is “nonsense,” he says. “The search engine can be free for users only because Google gets its revenue from advertisers and can channel consumers to their vertical search results,” he says, “much like newspapers can be free if it sells ad space for a high price.”

    Balto agrees, calling it an “extreme proposal” that few people take seriously. “Google relies on a lot of synergies among products and advertising revenue that works across products to do what they do,” he says. Consumers would actually suffer if Google’s search business was unbundled from its advertising services.

    Politics remain a sore point for those involved. The European Parliament’s involvement was unusual without any prior committee inquiry, Brussels-based antitrust solicitor Matthew Hall says, and the parties on each side of Google are pushing for their own resolution to the case.

    During his tenure as Europe’s antitrust chief, Almunia made it clear that he would not be swayed by politics. It’s not yet clear which path Vestager plans to take or which cards she will play to get there. Vestager will “decide on how to take the ongoing antitrust investigations into Google’s business practices forward once she has heard what those most directly affected by the practices in question have to say,” a spokesperson for the European Commission says.

    Balto is optimistic. “There are good signs that Vestager will not be swayed,” he says. “I don’t think the delay will lead to a rush to judgment.”