Google just lost its last shot at overturning a €4.1 billion antitrust fine in Europe.

The Court of Justice of the European Union, the bloc’s highest court, dismissed Google’s final appeal on July 2, upholding penalties first imposed back in 2018 for using its Android operating system to squeeze out competitors. Alphabet’s shares dipped roughly 1% in premarket trading on the news.

What Google actually did

Google required device manufacturers who wanted access to the Google Play Store to pre-install Google Search and Chrome on their phones and tablets. Google also restricted manufacturers from selling devices running alternative, “forked” versions of Android.

The European Commission originally slapped Google with a €4.34 billion fine in July 2018, calling the practices illegal under EU competition law. Google appealed to the EU General Court, which agreed the violations occurred but trimmed the penalty to €4.125 billion in 2022. Google then took its case to the CJEU, hoping for a different outcome. It didn’t get one.

The ruling is final. There is no higher court in the European Union.

A pattern, not an incident

This isn’t Google’s first rodeo with EU antitrust regulators. Cumulative EU antitrust fines against the company now exceed €8 billion across multiple cases. The Android penalty is the largest single fine, but it sits alongside cases targeting Google Shopping and AdSense practices.

Google made changes to its Android licensing practices in Europe following the original 2018 decision. The company introduced a choice screen for search engines and began allowing manufacturers to license Google apps separately.

What this means for investors

The €4.1 billion fine itself is almost a rounding error for a company of Alphabet’s size. What should concern investors is the trajectory, not the dollar amount. European regulators have demonstrated a consistent willingness to pursue massive penalties and, more importantly, to win in court.