Booking Says Spain Regulator Draft Ruling Set €486m Fine

Booking Holdings says Spain’s competition regulator opened a probe in January and notified the company of its draft decision to impose a fine of €486m.

• Amount of the fine may be increased when the decision is finalized, which is expected by July, Booking says in 10-K filing
• Regulator draft decision restricts “certain business practices such as those relating to parity provisions and criteria that Booking.com can use to determine how to rank hotels in its display to customers”
• Company disagrees with draft decision’s rationale and certain of the restrictions to be imposed, continues to engage with the regulator, would challenge ...