Skift Take
The fine print would ultimately determine the financial impact of the Digital Markets Act. But the fact that Booking Holdings filed a statement from Booking.com with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about it this week means it believes the repercussions could be material to its operations.
Google is among the platforms that have informed the European Union that it meets the definition of being a "gatekeeper," and Booking.com stated this week that it expects to meet that criteria "at the end of 2023."
What this means under the European Union's Digital Markets Act is that tech companies of this size — having at least an $82 billion market cap and 45 million active monthly users — will see some of their operations or business practices restricted. Meta/Facebook/Whatsapp, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft would also feel the pain.
In travel within the European Union, Google would be be barred from favoring its Google Travel ecosystem in search results over the free results from companies such as Expedia, Tr