Apple wins 728-mn-euro cut to France antitrust fine

A French court on Thursday slashed more than 700 million euros from a record 1.1 billion euro fine imposed on US tech giant Apple in 2020, sources close to the case told AFP.

France’s competition authority levied the fine — its biggest ever — after concluding that the firm squeezed independent sellers of Apple products as it tried to push buyers towards its own stores and preferred retailers.

The Paris appeal court revised the decision and knocked 728 million from the fine, meaning Apple still faces having to pay 370 million euros.

While the competition authority told AFP it was studying the decision and could appeal, Apple said it would try to have the ruling overturned.

“We consider that the decision should have been annulled in its entirety and plan to appeal to the French supreme court,” the firm told AFP in a statement.

“The decision concerns practices that go back more than 10 years and that even the French competition authority has recognised as no longer being in force.”

The initial case was made up of three linked complaints — one was dismissed by the court, two were upheld.

Sources close to the case confirmed the amounts and the details of the decision.

The Paris appeals court told AFP the ruling would be made public on Friday.

Apple has faced years of scrutiny from European regulators, particularly over a deal with Ireland that saw it pay low rates of corporation tax.

The firm, along with competitor Google, has also been accused of tightly controlling its app store and taking too big a bite out of revenue brought in by developers.

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