Apple Inc. was fined a record €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) by French antitrust regulators for making agreements with suppliers that made it more difficult for independent resellers to compete.
"Apple abusively exploited" distributors’ dependence on the tech giant, the authority wrote, and "prevented competition among different Apple distribution channels."
The French competition authority also fined two of Apple’s French wholesalers: Tech Data and Ingram Micro, €62.9 million ($70.4 million) and €76.1 million ($85.2 million) respectively, for taking part in the sales monopoly..
France‘s watchdog reportedly received a complaint about Apple‘s price-fixing in 2012, prompted by a complaint lodged by eBizcuss, an Apple premium reseller. This resulted in an intensive investigation about the matter.
“Apple and its two wholesalers agreed to not compete against each other and prevent resellers from promoting competition between each other, thus sterilizing the wholesale market for Apple products,” Isabelle de Silva, head of the French agency, said in a statement.
The fine came after Apple said that it is closing hundreds of its retail stores outside of Greater China until March 27, and is moving to remote work in order to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.
A spokesperson for Apple said that:
Apple defended its operations, saying that its “investment and innovation supports over 240,000 jobs across the country.”
Monday’s announcement is the second fine that French authorities have given Apple in two months, after the regulators hit Apple with a €25 million fine in February over its software updates, which were concluded to have slowed older iPhones.
Apple shares were down by more than 13%, amid the poor performing broader market due to the coronavirus.
The French authority said that the penalty - totaling €1.24 billion - is the largest ever handed down in one case for a company.
In comparison, Orange SA was hit with a €350 million ($391 million) in 2015, for preventing customers from switching to competitors.
France also fined Google €150 million euros ($168 million) in December 2019 for setting “opaque” rules for its Google Ads advertising platform that it applied unfairly and randomly, effectively abusing its dominant position in the online advertising market.
Apple has in fact been riddled with fines for more than a few times.
Back in 2016, the EU demanded Apple to give €13.1 billion ($14.7 billion) in unpaid taxes to Ireland, plus €1.2 billion ($1.34 billion) in interest - an amount that took Apple over two years to pay back.
The Cupertino-based firm has since appealed that ruling.