Google has appealed the $1.7 billion fine levied by the European Commission for stifling competition in the online advertising industry. This appeal came in response to a previous fine slapped on Google by the executive arm of the European Union over antitrust issues.The EU accuses Google of restricting online search advertisements from competitors, which was deemed illegal under the bloc’s antitrust rules. Previously in 2017, the EU charged Google with two similar fines worth nearly $8 billion for practicing anti-competitive practices with its Android devices and comparison-shopping service. Google is also currently facing increasing regulatory pressures from the U.S. Justice Department, which is reportedly planning an antitrust investigation into Google, related to business practices in its search and other businesses. Shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet plunged nearly 5% after the news first broke in the Wall Street Journal.

Google has appealed a $1.7 billion fine from the European Commission for stifling competition in the online advertising industry, the company said Wednesday.

Google’s privacy woes are set to increase after campaigners on Tuesday filed complaints to data protection regulators in France, Germany and seven other EU countries over the way it deals with data in online advertising.

The latest and one of the biggest victims in U.S. Presidents recent tariff game is likely to be the U.S. denim companies who are heavily depended on Mexico for denim supply. According to analysts, President Donald Trump’s surprise pledge to slap new tariffs on Mexican goods could end up hurting retailers the most, who are already reeling under the pressure of the ongoing tit-for-tat trade war between the U.S. and China. President Trump through his Twitter (TWTR) account on Thursday announced that the U.S. is all set to impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports from June 10. One of the biggest victims of this new Mexican tariffs in the retail industry could be jean makers, the reason being Mexico is the biggest supplier of men’s and boy’s jeans to the U.S. – nearly 35% of imports.Further, the country is overall the eighth-largest supplier of apparel and the seventh-largest supplier of footwear to the U.S. market. However, the American Apparel & Footwear Association said in a sta

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly preparing for an antitrust investigation against Google.Following the report, the tech giant’s parent company Alphabet lost more than -3% in stock price during pre-market trading Monday. Citing sources familiar with the antitrust probe, The Wall Street Journal indicated that third-party critics of Google have been in touch with the Department regarding the issue.

Alphabet’s Google will invest 600 million euros ($670 million) to build a data center in Finland , as the company looks to speed up data access. The new investment would count towards a total investment of 1.4 billion euros by Google in Finland so far, as indicated by the company.  The tech giant’s total investment in five data centers in Europe is more than 4.3 billion euros since 2007. The announcement of Google’s latest expansion in Finland comes amidst the company’s plans to up the ante on its video gaming products.In the first quarter this year, Google had accrued capital expenditures of around $4.5 billion, as it spent heavily on data centers, servers and office facilities.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has held talks with his old rivals the Winklevoss twins as the social media giant plans to launch its own cryptocurrency, the Financial Times reported.

Ireland’s data privacy watchdog on Wednesday announced the launch of an inquiry into Google over the tech giant’s collection of data when it comes to online advertising.

Google has severed business ties with Huawei, in a stunning move that could threaten the smartphone maker’s global ambitions. The U.S. tech giant has decided to stop licensing its Android operating system to the Chinese telecommunications firm, in order to comply with a U.S. trade blacklist.

This followed Baidu’s less-than-expected first quarter earnings reported last week. Adjusted earnings for the quarter came in at 41 cents a share, below analysts’ estimates of 40 cents a share.The company – often touted as the Google of China –  had a 47% year-over-year spike in content costs that touched $917 million, as it bulked up investments in video streamer iQiyi, while its research and development expenses went up 26%.

Alphabet Inc’s Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services except those publicly available via open source licensing, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday, in a blow to the Chinese technology company that the U.S. government has sought to blacklist around the world.

Huawei has built its own operating system for smartphones and computers in case it is suddenly blocked from using U.S. software from Microsoft and Google, the Chinese company confirmed to CNBC on Friday.

After initially withdrawing shares from the FAANG components - Facebook Inc (FB), Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN), Netflix Inc (NFLX) and Alphabet Inc (GOOG, GOOGL) - it seems that some of the highest-profile U.S. hedge fund investors and money managers fell back in love with FAANGs again during the first quarter. According to regulatory filings released on Wednesday, prominent hedge fund managers including names like Tiger Global Management LLC have changed their minds on the FAANG stocks and are reinvesting. Tiger increased its Facebook stake by 64.5% to 8.8 million class A shares during the first quarter.It also boosted its stake in streaming company Netflix by 42.8% to 2.1 million shares.

Pinterest Inc forecast 2019 revenue in-line with Wall Street estimates, disappointing investors who had expected more from the stock - sending its shares down 16 percent. The online scrapbook company’s shares have risen 62% from its initial public offering price of $19 last month. The company expects full-year revenue between $1.055 billion and $1.08 billion, the mid point of which is slightly above analysts’ estimate of $1.06 billion, driven by average revenue per user (ARPU) in the United States.  Net loss narrowed to $41.4 million in the quarter ended March 31 from $52.7 million a year earlier.Excluding certain items, the company lost 32 cents per share.

Joe Biden said he would be open to breaking up Facebook. In an interview on Monday with The Associated Press, the former vice-president said that dismantling large technology companies is "something we should take a really hard look at.While Biden didn't fully embrace her proposal — saying it's "premature" to make a final judgment — he praised Warren and said she "has a very strong case to be made" for cracking down on tech giants.

Cryptocurrency has struggled to gain mainstream traction, but the promise of digital coins has attracted the interest of one of tech’s biggest companies.Facebook has explored blockchain-centric projects in the past few years, but a new payment initiative the Wall Street Journal reports is “code-named Project Libra” prominently features digital currency – and has the potential to succeed where other projects have failed. Facebook has been “recruiting dozens of financial firms and online merchants to help launch” the platform, which sources said would center around a new digital coin that Facebook users could use to “send to each other and…make purchases both on Facebook and across the internet” through theoretical partnerships with internet retailers and apps.

When Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG) announced earnings on April 29, the company beat its EPS estimate, but it came up a little short on its revenue estimate.On May 6, after opening sharply lower the stock rallied back to close slightly higher.

The European Union will start a formal probe of Apple Inc. in the next few weeks following Spotify Technology SA’s antitrust complaint, the Financial Times reported. Read More...

Google’s parent company Alphabet’s stock fell more than 8% on Tuesday, and the company blames YouTube -- which saw a fall in ad revenue growth of just 15% versus 24% last year. In Q1 2018, Google began making changes to YouTube’s algorithms that were designed to prevent toxic content from appearing in the recommended videos feed.Additionally, YouTube has removed millions of channels and videos from its platform that are detrimental to its content policies, for example Alex Jones. But this proved to potentially be counter-productive, as all the negative content kept engagement high.

Facebook-owned Instagram is going to test hiding “like” counts this week as a way to make “a less pressurized environment” on the app, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced on Tuesday.READ MORE...