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Comment by maeil | Hacker News Reader

I see this comment pop up here often in these threads about EU fines and regulations. "Apple/company should just call the EUs bluff and stop selling in the EU!".

Apple's a good example because they're such an incredibly global brand, who should be less reliant on EU customers. Yet Europe is responsible for >20% of their revenue. Shareholders would eat you alive for just "nope"ing away from that.

Yes, US GDP/capita is far above the EU average, but the EU still represents 450 million, on average fairly wealthy people. So companies simply play ball. And that excludes the UK, whose data protection laws are similarly strict.

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Noping out of europe would create a vacuum that would be filled by a competitor who would fully comply with the consumer protecting EU rules. Rules that many consumers in other nations would love to have themselves but don't because of regulatory capture and regular corruption. Those consumer friendly products would become popular outside of Europe. Big-US-monopoly-company would lose dominance. They would either have to change to be more consumer friendly or eat the loss of market share.

The company with a board of directors responsible to shareholders noping out of anywhere isn't a choice.

20% of revenue isn't that much. Would you rather focus on your core product and double your revenue, or focus on getting that 20%? Yes giant companies have the resources and experience less YoY growth so they will work with the EU market, but most companies would do better to ignore the EU.

Explain to me how not selling in the EU could double a company's revenue? How removing yourself from your third largest market would enlarge the others? How millions of people in the US don't buy an iPhone because you can buy iPhones in Germany?

> 20% of revenue isn't that much

It is in reality gigantic, especially at that scale. And in this specific example, Apple net profit is 24% of their revenue.

> Would you rather focus on your core product and double your revenue

Saying you no longer sell to people with blue eyes or wearing short is not in any way increasing your sales to other people.

I'm sorry to you your messages sound like you're not very knowledge about the subject matter.

see Apple's 14 billion tax troubles in Ireland. For years these companies have been using the European operations as part of the tax avoidance schemes.

Don't mess with the Flemish has been good advice for 600 of the last thousand years.

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