Google settles EU probe into search display

[BRUSSELS] Google, the owner of the world's largest search engine, reached a settlement to end the European Union's three-year antitrust probe after it made an improved offer to display results from rival search services.

Google will escape fines or any finding by regulators that it may have discriminated against competing search sites, a year after the US Federal Trade Commission dropped a similar investigation by saying Google was motivated more by innovation than by trying to stifle competition.

The five-year pledge to the European Commission lets Google add new services or alter its search page as long as it grants three links to rival services next to its own specialised search results such as Google Shopping, the EU said in a statement.