EU May Hit Google With A Third Antitrust Complaint

The European Union is making moves that could result in a third antitrust complaint against Google (Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL)). This time, the potential complaint is thought to be over its "lucrative advertising services," Bloomberg reported, citing three people familiar with the EU investigation.

Not Again...

The report said, "EU officials sent the search giant's critics requests to allow their evidence to be shared with Google [...] One request was sent as recently as last week, one person said. Such a move is typically a precursor to a formal EU statement of objections cataloging how a firm may have violated EU antitrust law," according to Bloomberg.

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Bloomberg noted that the probe targets advertising could affect Google's revenue stream more so than the previous two investigations. Google's AdWords has been a key revenue contributor, as most of Google's $74.5 billion 2015 revenue came from advertising.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in May "she hoped the investigation into Google's AdWords advertising service could conclude 'within a reasonable timeframe,'" Bloomberg added.

This will mark the third Google investigation escalated by the EU since Vestager took her seat in 2014. The first involved Google allegedly "unfairly promoting its own services over rivals in shopping search services." In April, the company received a formal complaint over its Android mobile operating system.

At time of writing, Alphabet's GOOG shares were up 1.39 percent at $677.28, while GOOGL shares were up 1.06 percent at $688.36.