A&O Shearman report reveals Global Antitrust penalties doubled year on year in 2024

That statistic is one of the key findings in A&O Shearman’s Global antitrust enforcement report 2025. The report identifies the major trends and developments in antitrust enforcement worldwide in 2024, as well as considering how changes in enforcement and regulatory priorities may play out in 2025.

In the latest edition of the report, A&O Shearman’s experts examine antitrust developments in key global jurisdictions, analyzing the fines imposed in cartel, non-cartel and abuse of dominance cases as well as the sectors and anticompetitive conduct targeted.

It also considers the evolving and varied approaches to digital markets and AI technologies, labor practices and sustainability initiatives, and provides an update on the private damages landscape.

Speaking at the launch of the report, A&O Shearman partner Imogen Carr said: “Last year saw total antitrust penalties amount to USD6.7bn, more than double the total for 2023.

“Fines on Big Tech alone amounted to almost half of fines worldwide. We expect that regulators will continue to enforce against these companies under the traditional abuse of dominance rules even as, in parallel, the same regulators start to ensure compliance with new digital markets regimes.

“Looking ahead to 2025, it will be interesting to see whether the recent shifts in political power have an impact on behavioral antitrust enforcement, as newly appointed leaders and regulator heads in countries including the U.S. and the U.K. seek to redefine their regulatory enforcement strategies.”

Other key findings of the report include:

• The marked increase in abuse of dominance fines to USD4.3bn reflected an uptick in European Commission decisions. Global fines for cartel activity in 2024 totaled USD602.5 million, the lowest amount in several years.
• Fines on Big Tech alone amounted to approximately USD3bn, nearly 50% of all regulator fines worldwide.
• Abuse of dominance cases also continued to make up the vast majority of recently filed U.K. collective actions.

A&O Shearman’s Global antitrust enforcement report 2025 analyzes data from 31 jurisdictions to give a unique insight into current trends as well as an outlook for the future.

The A&O Shearman global antitrust team consists of more than 120 specialist antitrust lawyers working out of 23 offices in the U.K., Europe, the U.S., APAC and Africa. As one of the leading antitrust law firms in the world, A&O Shearman advises on merger control, sector-specific regulatory issues, cartel and behavioral investigations, antitrust litigation, abuse of dominance, competition compliance and general EU law issues.