Microsoft fined £484m over EU rules breach
The European Union has fined Microsoft 561m euro (£484m) for breaking a pledge to offer personal computer users a choice of internet browsers when they install the company’s flagship Windows operating system.
The penalty imposed by the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, is a first for Brussels: no company has ever failed to keep its end of a bargain with EU authorities before.
In 2009, Microsoft struck a broad settlement with the commission to resolve disputes over Microsoft’s abuse of the dominance of Windows, which had spanned more than a decade.
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Hide AdThe company agreed to pay 860m euro (£742m) and promised to give Windows users the option of choosing another browser rather than having Microsoft’s Internet Explorer automatically installed on their machines.
But Microsoft failed to stick to the deal for some 15m installations of Windows 7 in Europe from May 2011 until July 2012.