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google is expected to take another hit from eu regulators, and if the company does not act quickly to give competitors more room to grow, it may face huge fines and be ordered to change its business model. eu officials are preparing a formal complaint against google under the digital markets act, mainly about how google displays competitor product results in different search services (such as google flights and google hotels). if it does not comply with the regulations, google may face a heavy fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue.

people familiar with the matter said the eu's preliminary findings could be released before the end of october, and given the upcoming reshuffle at the top of the european commission, the meeting could be delayed, so google still has time to allay the concerns of eu authorities. a final ruling on the case will be made by the end of march next year. google's lawyers held a closed-door meeting with european commission officials this week to ease regulators' concerns about compliance. one of the company's proposals is to introduce a new design in google's search bar that would give users the option to navigate to other search platforms or direct suppliers such as hotel websites and airlines. a google spokesperson said the company tries to balance the needs of different types of websites while respecting user choices. (bloomberg)