Google ordered to pay PriceRunner $1.5bn in Swedish antitrust case
A Swedish court has ordered Google to pay about 14.3 billion Swedish kronor ($1.5 billion) in damages and interest to the price comparison platform PriceRunner, ruling that the tech giant unlawfully favored its own price comparison service over competitors, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to the court, Google’s conduct reduced traffic to rival comparison websites while increasing visits to its own service. PriceRunner argued that Google's anti-competitive behavior continued until the end of 2023, whereas Google maintained that it ended in September 2017, following changes made after the European Commission’s ruling.
The Patent and Market Court partially upheld a 2022 lawsuit filed by PriceRunner, finding that Google’s anti-competitive practices caused financial harm in the UK, Sweden, and Denmark. However, the court awarded significantly less than the 64 billion kronor in damages originally sought.
The ruling follows the European Commission’s 2017 Google Shopping case, which found that Google abused its dominant position by favoring its own price comparison service in search results.
“In many ways, this is a complex and wide-ranging case, and although PriceRunner has not been entirely successful in its claim, the damages awarded are undoubtedly the largest ever ordered in a Swedish competition case,” Judge Linda Kullberg said.
The court ordered Google to pay more than 1 billion Swedish kronor, 675 million Danish kronor, and 950 million British pounds in damages. In addition, Google was ordered to pay accrued interest of about 400 million Swedish kronor, 250 million Danish kronor, and 300 million British pounds, marking the largest competition damages award ever issued in Sweden.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Google settled a class action lawsuit brought by Black employees who accused the company of systemic racial discrimination in hiring, pay, and career advancement for $50 million.