It is reported that recently, merrick Garland, the US Attorney General, announced that the US Department of Justice, together with the attorneys general of more than a dozen states, has filed a major antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The lawsuit accuses Apple of monopolizing the mobile phone market with its control over hardware and software, which has harmed consumers, developers and competitors.
Litigation documents show that Apple’s anti-competitive behavior is not only limited to the normal business scope of its mobile phones and watches, but also beyond these areas. Officials of the Ministry of Justice suggested that this anti-monopoly problem could be solved by measures such as splitting the company. Apple responded that complying with regulatory requirements will greatly increase costs, which may affect the launch of new products or services and may not be conducive to meeting customer needs.
After the news of this lawsuit was released, Apple’s market value evaporated more than 110 billion US dollars (about 800 billion yuan) overnight, and its share price closed down 4.09% to 171.37 US dollars, the biggest one-day drop since August 4, 2023. Apple’s latest market value has dropped to $2.6 trillion.
Prior to this, Apple had already faced heavy penalties from the EU for violating the EU anti-monopoly law. The European Commission found that Apple abused its dominant position in the market, hindered competition in the streaming music market, and imposed a fine of more than 1.8 billion euros on Apple. Apple said it would appeal against this, saying that the EU “ignored the vigorous development and competition of the market” and found no reliable evidence of consumer damage.
In addition to the Sonata case, Apple faces other lawsuits and investigations in the EU, including a long-standing huge tax evasion case. In 2016, the European Union asked Apple to pay 13 billion euros in taxes, and the case is currently awaiting the final ruling of the European Court of Justice.
Post time: Mar-28-2024