EBay Boss Backs Google In EU Competition Case

The boss of eBay has backed Google in its antitrust battle with the European Union by saying the pair are direct competitors in online shopping.

The European Commission’s competition experts claim Google abused its dominance of web search to gain an advantage over rival shopping search engines.

Google responded by saying it was dwarfed in web shopping by the likes of Amazon and eBay.

Now eBay’s chief executive John Donahoe has apparently backed Google’s stance in an interview with the Financial Times, saying that his company was a “strong commerce competitor of Google”.

European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager says Google’s share of more than 90% of the general web search market in Europe is evidence of its influence.

But Google says its influence in the world of online shopping is overstated, pointing out that it is overshadowed by Amazon and eBay in some European countries.

Google Shopping had 13 million unique visitors in Europe in February, compared with more than 100 million each for eBay and Amazon.

However Shivaun Raff, founder of rival price comparison site Foundem, said: “As Google is well aware, neither Amazon nor eBay are rivals to Google’s shopping comparison service.”

Source: yahoo.com