Qualcomm to pay a NT$23.4 billion (US$798.6 million) fine

Plus an additional US$1.2 billion to Europe.

Who does this money go to and what happens to it?

days-since

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Knowing how big companies work, very little of the fine will be paid in the end haha…

"Separately, the EU yesterday hit Qualcomm with an antitrust fine of 997 million euros (US$1.2 billion) for paying Apple Inc to exclusively use its chips in iPhones and iPads.

EU Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said that by striking the agreement with Apple in 2011, Qualcomm had “abused its market dominance” to unfairly shut out rival chipmakers such as Intel Corp, thus denying choice to consumers.

“Between 2011 and 2016, Qualcomm paid billions of US dollars to a key customer, Apple, and the payment was to prevent Apple to buy from rivals,” Vestager said.

“This meant that no rival could effectively challenge Qualcomm in this market, no matter how good their products were,” she added."

That’s just crazy, paying someone to take your products?

Kickbacks/benefits are quite common business tactics to gain market share. Companies are definitely getting creative to bypass anti-competition laws

Hey, I’ve delicious ice cream, I’ll pay if you’ll eat it! :rofl:

The fine in China: To the government/CCCP. They need to finance the surveillance of their people and the military bases in the South China Sea, etc.

The fine in Taiwan: To the government, so probably infrastructure (builders, land owners) and social programs (vote buying from the elderly)

The fine in the EU: Goes to the central administration, so they can move their people from Brussels to Strasbourg and back every month.

This is a lot of money for Qualcomm. But to be honest, in the grand scheme of country budgets allotted over many years, it is a drop in the bucket.

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