EU fines Microsoft €561m for pact breach

Microsoft was fined €561 million ($732 million) by Brussels over its failure to offer Windows users a choice of Internet browser in breach of a high-profile competition agreement with European regulators.

The European fine represents an unprecedented penalty against a company for failing to stick to a voluntary pact with antitrust regulators, and had been seen as a test of how vigorously Joaquín Almunia, EU competition commissioner, would seek to enforce such settlements. The penalty brings the overall fines imposed on Microsoft by European antitrust regulators during the past decade to €2.26 billion. The rare penalty came as it was reported that the US software group was also fighting Danish tax authorities over a claim of up to $1 billion, including penalties for late payment of taxes, that reach back nearly a decade.