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European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager coolly hit Google with a 4.3 billion-euro ($5 billion) fine last week, the biggest penalty in the history of antitrust enforcement.
It didn’t have to be that way.
A year earlier, when the company -- already reeling from a 2.4 billion-euro fine in another EU case -- made quiet attempts to settle the probe into deals it has with Android phone makers, the response was equally chilly.
The Silicon Valley search giant had waited at least a year too long to broach the subject of a settlement, the 50-year-old Vestager said in an interview.
