Re:Apple gets smacked by $450M e-book price-fixing fine
by sangnoir on Tuesday March 08, 2016 @10:17AM
(#11245690)
Apple partisans act as if the money is coming from Apple's petty-cash drawer. My point is somewhat similar to your: in that they would do anything not to pay the half a million dollars.
Comparing to the numbers in their last FY (Oct '15), the settlement is 0.94% of their annual profit. I too wouldn't be "hurt" by a 1% fine of my net annual income, but I'd rather put it to better use.
Still, it's worth comparing to how much money they make. So, a half-billion fine once in the last few years, and they made $18billion this quarter:
http://moneymorning.com/2016/01/26/q1-apple-earnings-2016/
I honestly don't see Apple being seriously hurt by this.