Tech giants Google, Microsoft and Amazon pay $2.5bn to settle antitrust case

Google, Apple and Amazon have agreed to pay $1.4bn to resolve antitrust lawsuits, including a complaint alleging they colluded to block rivals from selling smartphones.

Google will pay $450m to settle a federal antitrust suit brought by rival Motorola, Apple will pay about $250m to resolve a federal lawsuit brought by Samsung, and Amazon will pay roughly $100m to avoid an antitrust case by Microsoft.

The US Department of Justice filed the antitrust suit in April against the three companies over the price of smartphones.

In response, Google and Apple agreed to settle on July 17 with an agreement to settle the antitrust case in a $1bn, three-year settlement, Reuters reported.

Google said the settlement would be effective from August 31, 2019, and Apple and Samsung would not have to make any changes to their respective policies.