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Booking Holdings faces a landmark fine from Spanish regulators for anti-competitive practices, as Europe steps up its scrutiny on technology groups in an effort to curb their increasing dominance.
Spain’s antitrust watchdog has drawn up a provisional €486mn ($526mn) penalty against Booking, the online travel company said on Thursday. The regulators accused the agency of anti-competitive behaviour such as preventing domestic hotel groups from offering deals that are cheaper on their own sites than the price they offer on booking.com, the US site’s Amsterdam-based subsidiary.
Booking has pushed back at allegations of wrongdoing by arguing that allowing higher prices on its website could hurt the consumer, said people familiar with the company’s thinking.
The Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission will finalise its decision over the next few months, Booking said on Thursday.
“We are disappointed by the [Spanish regulators’] draft decision,” the world’s biggest travel agency by market capitalisation said in a statement, adding that it intends to appeal against the fine if it becomes final.
News of the proposed fine comes as regulators from around the world are combing through tech deals in an attempt to control the industry’s growing power, especially when it is to the detriment of local companies.
The EU last year blocked Booking’s purchase of Sweden’s flights-only Etraveli, a smaller business that runs brands such as Gotogate and Mytrip. However, Brussels’ decision was at odds with the UK’s previous approval of the deal.
The latest move against Booking comes days after Brussels pushed to crack down on Apple with a fine in the region of €500mn for allegedly breaking EU law relating to access to its music streaming services.
With this proposed fine from an individual member state, executives at Booking expressed concern that the platform will be hit at both national and EU levels. The 27-member bloc will force large tech companies next month to comply fully with its Digital Markets Act, aimed at opening markets in the region.
“The DMA is the right forum to discuss and assess competition concerns and solutions so they can apply across Europe, not country by country,” said Booking, which will be caught by the EU’s new digital rules.
Tech companies with annual sales of more than €7.5bn, a market valuation above €75bn and active monthly users in the EU of 45mn will need to comply.
They will be legally obliged to share data, link to competitors and make their services interoperable with rival apps. Booking, with its market valuation of about $135bn, said on Thursday that it meets those requirements.
Glenn Fogel, the company’s chief executive, has in the past hit out at the EU’s plans to regulate it as a “gatekeeper”, arguing that fresh regulatory burdens would “handcuff” it and restrain its ability to compete with rivals.
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