Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) dominates search in Europe even more than it does in the U.S. Fully 90% of all searches originating in European Union (EU) countries go to Google, and the EU’s competition committee wants to level the playing field somewhat.

In April, Google offered to address the four major issues under contention by, among other things, displaying links to competitors closer to where it displays its own services on search results pages. The EU competition committee chairman said today that Google’s proposals are “not enough to overcome our concerns.”

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has kept the pressure on the EU to demand more concessions from Google before agreeing to a settlement.

Earlier this year Google avoided further investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by agreeing to change how it displays search results and to license certain standards-essential patents to all comers. Google’s share of U.S. search traffic is a mere 70%, which, though monopolistic by most standards, is not deemed by federal regulators to stifle competition.

The company’s dominance in the EU could cost them a fine of up to 10% of annual revenues unless the company reaches an agreement with the competition committee. Google’s total revenue in 2012 was just over $50 billion. That’s gives the company about 5 billion reasons to reach a settlement.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.