Google is to pay Russia around 19,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 euros

Google is one of the richest companies in the world – but the fine that the company would theoretically have to pay as a result of a ruling in Russia would probably greatly overwhelm even the world’s fullest war chest. As “” reports, citing Russian media, Google now “owes” the country two sextillion rubles – advertised as 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 rubles. If you convert the sum into euros, at least three of the 36 zeros are eliminated, so it would be around 19 quintillion euros.

If you look at the logic behind calculating this penalty, in a strange way it even makes sense. Around four years ago, Google was given an ever-increasing fine because the company blocked some Russian YouTube channels and has not released them again to this day. These include, for example, the ultranationalist broadcaster Tsargrad. Since then, the fine has increased by 100,000 rubles (around 950 euros) every day and doubles every week.

It doesn’t help that YouTube blocked even more channels when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. According to “”, there are now 17 people taking part in the lawsuit in Russia. The already horrendous sum could – almost as a joke – continue to grow. According to The Register, one judge called the trial “a case with lots and lots of zeros.”

But the fine shouldn’t make Google lose sleep. Since 2022, the company has ceased its business activities in Russia and withdrawn from the market. It is said that Russia confiscated the bank accounts of the local branch, which then forced it to file for bankruptcy. Only a few free Google services remained active in Russia, which are still accessible today, but are said to run comparatively slowly.

The trade magazine “” writes that a lawyer involved in the case stated that Google would only be able to do business on Russian soil again if the court decision was followed.

Most recently, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported quarterly sales of $88.27 billion (81 billion euros). The profit was 26.3 billion US dollars (24.3 billion euros). “Heise” has calculated from the most recently reported figures that Google would have to raise “corporate profits from more than 260 trillion years” in order to pay the current (and still growing) fine in Russia.

Apart from that, Google would have to agree on installment payments that are as interest-free as possible anyway, since there isn’t that much money on earth at the moment. According to 2023, the global economy could have a gross domestic product (GDP) of 105 trillion dollars (105,000,000,000,000). Regardless of the currency, there are still a few zeros missing.

Google recently addressed the situation in Russia in a paragraph. It states rather unimpressively: “We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, we have been subject to civil judgments with punitive surcharges in connection with disputes over the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. We do not believe that these are ongoing Legal matters will have a material adverse impact.”