EU Reportedly Lays Groundwork For Antitrust Charges Against Google

(RTTNews) - Europe's competition regulator is preparing to move against Google Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) in the next few weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported citing a person familiar with the matter.

The European Commission has been asking companies that filed complaints against Google for permission to publish some information they previously submitted confidentially, the report said.

Antitrust experts said the requests were a strong indication that formal antitrust charges were being prepared.

A settlement in Google's case is always possible. Even if the EU presses ahead with charges, Google could still strike a deal to resolve the bloc's concerns that the company abuses its dominance in the European search market.

Google has been engaged in a five-year-old antitrust investigation with the European Union that has stalled three times and sparked a political firestorm.

In November 2014, the European parliament approved a resolution that calls for the unbundling of search engines from other commercial services that internet companies offer, implying the possible break-up of big internet companies like Google Inc.