STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 6 March 2013

[xchrom]

28. EU FINES MICROSOFT $733M FOR BREAKING BROWSER PACT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AP_EU_EU_MICROSOFT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-06-09-49-10

AMSTERDAM (AP) -- The European Union has fined Microsoft (EURO)561 million ($733 million) for breaking a pledge to offer personal computer users a choice of Internet browsers when they install the company's flagship Windows operating system.

The penalty imposed by the EU's executive arm, the Commission, is a first for Brussels: no company has ever failed to keep its end of a bargain with EU authorities before.

In 2009, Microsoft Corp. struck a broad settlement with the Commission to resolve disputes over Microsoft's abuse of the dominance of Windows, which had spanned more than a decade.

The company agreed to pay (EURO)860 million and promised to give Windows users the option of choosing another browser rather than having Microsoft's Internet Explorer automatically installed on their machines.