Google EU fine: investors not worried

Stephen Lam | Reuters

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks onstage during the annual Google I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California, May 8, 2018.

Google was hit with another fine from EU antitrust regulators Wednesday, and investors didn’t bat an eye.

The stock rose 2 percent by the end of trading, outpacing Apple and Microsoft for the day and adding nearly $17 billion to the company’s market value.

Google was fined about one-tenth of that amount by the European Commission on Competition early Wednesday.

It’s the third EU fine for Google, following a $5.5 billion fine in July related to the company’s dominance in Android and a $2.7 billion fine in 2017 related to its online shopping feature. It seems any initial shock of an antitrust threat has worn off.

Alphabet’s gains on Wednesday add to a 1 percent jump Tuesday, after the company’s Google division announced its new video game streaming platform, Stadia. Stadia launches Google into a new revenue segment, and carries massive opportunity for YouTube with tie-in functions between the two services.

The stock is now up 17 percent so far in 2019 and is trading just 5 percent off 52-week highs.

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