Google gives Netflix a discount: The company is said to have offered Netflix a lower commission for the app in the Play Store. This is evident from current court documents. With the offer, Google responded to the request of the streaming service to install its own payment system in its Android app without paying it to Google.
It is not clear from the court document which conditions Google offered Netflix and whether Netflix accepted them. It shows again that not all companies are treated equally in the Play Store. A few weeks ago, court documents also revealed that Google is rewarding game companies such as Activision-Blizzard and Tencent for offering their titles exclusively in the Play Store. Google is said to have paid several hundred million US dollars to large developer studios.
Google’s Deals in the background
The allegation that Google is giving Netflix a discount stems from a possible class action lawsuit in the United States. This lawsuit was filed last August, now the lawyers have submitted a revised notice of appeal, which The Verge reported on. In a statement to The Verge, Google does not deny the price reduction with Netflix: There have been programs for a long time that support developers with resources and investments. That is a sign of healthy competition.
Special conditions and special deals with individual developers are intended to ensure the supremacy of the Play Store on the Android platform. In part, Google is said to have intensified this endeavor after Epic Games orchestrated the kicking of “Fortnite” from the Play Store and sued Google. Google generally requires 30 percent of the app sales that are generated in the Play Store. Developers only have to pay 15 percent for the first million.
8.5 billion gross profit
Many companies consider this commission stolen from Apple to be too high. Google is said to have generated a gross profit of 8.5 billion US dollars with the Play Store commission in 2019, reports the Reuters news agency citing court documents from a lawsuit filed against Google by attorneys general in various US states.
The possible consumer class action lawsuit shows that Google is said to have achieved sales of 4 billion US dollars in the Play Store in the same year with Samsung smartphones alone. Samsung itself, on the other hand, is said to have turned over just 100 million US dollars in the same period.
(dahe)
