Google has found a surprising ally in its defense against the antitrust case by the European Commission — eBay.
In an interview with the Financial Times, eBay CEO John Donahoe said the auction website – which had more than 100 million unique visitors from Europe in February – is a direct competitor of Google. That supports Google's argument against the European Commission's claim that Google is abusing its power as Europe's dominant search engine.
The Commission claims Google is crippling the business of its competitors by sending users to its own services — even when competing services are deemed more useful. And yet, eBay doesn't see Europe's online marketplace as unipolar.
"Yes... we are a strong competitor [of Google's]," said Donahoe.
Google commands a massive 90 percent of the search population in Europe — a fact that European competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has claimed as evidence of Google's huge influence. However, Google says the commission does not understand how people search for things online.
"Generally, Amazon remains the first place where people start their commercial queries," said analyst Yousseff Squali of Cantor Fitzgerald in New York. "But they would often move to Google next if they can't find what they're looking for on Amazon."
Amazon, like eBay, saw more than 100 million unique European visitors in February. In contrast, Google's own shopping service, Google Shopping, pales with its 13 million unique visitors in the same month, according to figures released by ComScore.
Donahoe's statement has fallen on the deaf ears of Google Shopping's European competitors. Shivaun Raff, co-founder of Foundem, said Google Shopping and eBay and Amazon are not the same services. Foundem, which is based in the U.K., is the first company to file an antitrust case against Google in Europe.
"As Google is well aware, neither Amazon nor eBay are rivals to Google's shopping comparison service," Raff said.
Amazon and eBay are full-service e-commerce websites that allow customers to complete transactions on the platform themselves. In contrast, Google Shopping and Foundem display listings from e-commerce websites – including eBay and Amazon – and get paid a referral fee when people coming from those websites purchase something from the full-service sites.
The antitrust case, which was announced earlier this month, follows a long-running investigation into Google's search practices in Europe. Former competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia attempted to settle the investigation with Google's voluntary promise to alter its practices, avoiding a preference for its own services in the search results — but Google's proposals have continued to be criticized as being one-sided and self-beneficial.
Photo: Mike Knell | Flickr