According to sources close to the situation, Google will shortly make its shopping service a standalone business unit which will bid against competing shopping sites for top ad placement in paid search results.
This comes following assessment of a 2.4B euro fine - and threat of additional fines for remaining in non-compliance - against Google by EU competition regulators.
Google is appealing the EU finding.
The highly-regulated EU is a tough arena in which to try to make a buck.
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