14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft was fined $731 million (€562 million) this week for failing to provide European users with a browser choice screen in Windows 7, but an antitrust expert believes that EU regulators should have imposed a smaller penalty.
Nicholas Economides, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, told IBD that the fine is “huge,” especially since Microsoft confirmed that a technical glitch had blocked the browser ballot from reaching European computers.
“This fine is extraordinary. It's huge, for something that for all intents and purposes looks like a mistake. Microsoft should have been careful to not have a technical glitch. But to charge them more than $700 million on a technical glitch sounds excessive to me,” he was quoted as saying.
Microsoft, on the other hand, acknowledged its mistake and said in a statement that it has no intention to appeal the fine, so it’s going to pay it once the investigation is over.