Intel Receives Record Fine By the EU

Firefalcon writes "Intel has been fined a record 1.06 billion euros ($1.45 billion / £948 million) by the European Competition Commission after being found guilty of anti-competitive practices. This makes Microsoft's 497 million euro fine in 2004 (which was a record at the time) seem like a slap on the hand. Reports had previously suggested that the fine would be similar to Microsoft's. Intel was charged (among other things) with encouraging manufacturers and retailers to purchase fewer (or even not stock) AMD processors. More details of the ruling are on the European Commission's Competition website. Intel said they will appeal the fine."

Comments

How to get out of a recession in 2 easy steps..

[Pvt_Ryan]

Step 1: Find a large wealthy company.
Step 2: Fine them for anti-competitive behaviour.

Re:How to get out of a recession in 2 easy steps..

[elrous0]

1 billion Euros is not "chump change" in any sense. Yes, the total bailouts are ultimately going to go over a trillion Euros, but any time a SINGLE COMPANY is fined even a thousandth of a trillion Euros, that's REAL money. It's kind of sad when we've reached the point where $1.4 billion seems like "chump change."

Re:How to get out of a recession in 2 easy steps..

[Anonymous Coward]

...is fined even a thousandth of a trillion Euros...

If only there were some smaller numerical denomination, equivalent to a thousandth of a trillion, that we could substitute to make our posts more succinct...

Re:How to get out of a recession in 2 easy steps..

[diablovision]

They had evidence from emails that these secret deals were occurring...

Oh noes! Not secret deals! I have news for you, most deals between businesses are "secret" by this standard.

As to illegality, It was clear to me at least that the GP was clearly questioning the validity of the anti-trust laws. One way to challenge a law is by deliberately breaking it. I am not claiming that Intel was making a political statement, but what if they were?

How did they pick the number?

[niceone]

1.066 GigaEuros - a number Intel can understand?

Re:Intel Appealing?

[v1]

wow, never saw that coming

Re:That was 2 Euros of course

[Anonymous Coward]

(why does Slashdot not display the Euro sign correctly when pretty much every other internet forum does?)

Just to piss you off.

Re:But where does all that money go?

[biocute]

Depends when Intel has to pay for it.

In 2020, this "Record Fine" is probably worth 2 CPUs.

Which is why all these records are meaningless.

1.06 billion?

[91degrees]

Why the odd 60 million tacked on the end? VAT?

Re:1.06 billion?

[Teddeh]

They used a Pentium to calculate it?

Re:That was 2 Euros of course

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new here.

Slashdot sucks at displaying pretty much anything

Re:Intel Appealing?

[Sponge Bath]

Now witness the final battle between Captain Obvious and the Mighty Sarcasmo!

Re:Intel Appealing?

[stjobe]

Well played, Sir, well played indeed.

Now do you have any suggestions for drying coffee out of a keyboard?

Where it goes is kind of meaningless

[Shivetya]

the fact that people don't understand where it comes from is more important.

As in, everything sold by intel in effect passes the cost of this judgment to the people buying the product. Since the dollar amount truly is not significant to alter intel's behavior this just becomes and embedded tax.

Really, I see the EU as Dr. Evil making a demand for an amount of money which is meaningless in today's term and Intel's board just laughing it off.

Re:European Union is a bunch of Commies

[LingNoi]

The Anonymous Coward read the article, tears came down his face. "Not my beloved intel!", he cried out loud.

The tears kept coming, he couldn't bare it anymore. The European Union had gone too far this time, the people had to know..

Re:From the horse's mouth

[iamhigh]

Instead, it's "I'll give you this great price, but only if you don't buy anything from my competitor."

But haven't I heard of people becoming the "exclusive" supplier for companies? Isn't this really just a normal business tactic?

Re:Intel Appealing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Now do you have any suggestions for drying coffee out of a keyboard?

And Commander Cliche checks in.

Re:That was 2 Euros of course

[Dishevel]

What are "Girls"?

Roast Intel... ROAST!

[KoldFusion77]

"...Intel said they will appeal the fine...." Intel PAID a leading OEM Manufacturer to delay sales of a new AMD CPU model and offered kickback payments for units sold with Intel chips. Intel deserves to burn in hell! Just shows that Intel must not have faith in their own silicone if they pay to make sure AMDs dont get released by OEMs. The move was DIRTY and bullshit. If I can help it I won't EVER by an Intel based anything. So I guess no Mac for me

Headed for the Gultch

[sladetf]

Don't listen to those morons in the EU, Intel. Come home to the US where we will simply forgive all your sins via nationalization. =)

Re:But where does all that money go?

[Chris Burke]

Somebody below mentioned that according to the laws of the EU, Intel will have to pay now, and appeal later. Can anyone ascribe some truthiness to this?

It has a Truthiness factor of 7.

Re:But where does all that money go?

[DarrenBaker]

Hrmm... Interesting, interesting. I like it.

And as for veracity?

question mark?

[Das Auge]

I don't think you understand the purpose of the question mark?

Re:But where does all that money go?

[The J Kid]

Only a 2 I'm affraid.

Re:But where does all that money go?

[DarrenBaker]

Ah, but that's a '2' on the old OOS (Old OOS Scale) scale. In modern terms, that's a 7 as well. Excellent. Gentlemen, we have a consensus factor of 54, with an implied hearsay vector calculated at 1, leaving us free to continue speculating.

I just want to say, "good work, gentlemen". We've cracked it!

Re:That was 2 €uros of cours€

[Molochi]

This is why we can't have nice things.

Punctuation characters?

[jonaskoelker]

Or does he!