After massive EU fine, Google looking to separate shopping from searches

Back in June we reported on a massive fine to the tune of $2.8 billion, handed out to Google from the EU because Google promoted its own shopping search results over those of competitors. Google has until September 28th to make changes and give rivals a better chance in those listings. Google is facing a new fine of up to 5% of daily revenue if it fails to comply with these new regulations.

In response, Google will create a standalone unit that will be required to bid against rivals for the top ten slots that are shown at the top of Shopping search pages. The shopping service won’t be rebranded and will still remain a part of Google, but it will be required to use its own revenues in order to bid for ad slots. Google is also tweaking the advertising panel, but only for Google’s European sites.

It seems as though regulators on this case have accepted this remedy since Google won’t be able to subsidize Google Shopping’s bidding process.