Google Wins Appeal Against EU Antitrust Fine; Very Media Group Launches; Tortoise Media in Talks to Buy The Observer

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 19th Sep 2024 in News

Today’s news: Google Wins Appeal Against EU Antitrust Fine; Very Media Group Launches; Tortoise Media in Talks to Buy The Observer

Google has won its appeal against an antitrust fine from the EU, officially being able to reject the €1.5bn (£1.26bn) payment. The EU General Court annulled the fine on Wednesday, despite stating that it accepted most of the assessments made by the European Commission (EC) – the EU’s executive arm – regarding Google’s practices to block rival advertisers. The case launched back in 2019, accusing the tech giant of imposing anti-competitive restrictions on third-party websites between 2006 and 2016. The court has now found that the EC failed to consider “all the relevant circumstances in its assessment of the duration of the contractual clauses that it had found to be unfair”. Following the General Court’s decision, the EC stated it would reflect on next possible steps going forward; a further appeal from the EC could be on the cards.

Turning our attention to the UK retail media landscape, The Very Group has announced the launch of Very Media Group. The group is a “reimagining” of its retail media proposition in partnership with independent retail media operator SMG. This follows twelve years of collaboration between both parties. With over four million active customers, Very Media Group outlines its intention to become the choice retail media network for brands, allowing them to connect to the Very audience at scale. The group is in a strong position, with large amounts of data including personal, shopping and financial.

Lastly, Tortoise Media – the slow newsroom launched in 2019 – is in talks with Guardian Media Group in hopes to buy its sister publication The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. The Observer’s content is currently published online on The Guardian. Formal and exclusive negotiations have now commenced. Tortoise plans to invest a sum of over £25m in the publication over the next five years to boost it both editorially and commercially. If the sale is agreed on, Tortoise intends to publish The Observer every Sunday as well as building the digital version of the publication to combine with its own podcasts, newsletters and live events.