Epic Claims Google Considered Solving Dispute With a Takeover

The Epic vs Google/Apple battle wasnt exactly something we saw coming. And as it turns out, it was almost squished early on. Recent court documents claim that Google was considering partnering with Tencent to deal with Epic in entirety.

A few weeks ago, Epic filed a complaint with the Northern California US District Court against Google. The complaint alleges that a Google Executive attempted to settle the Epic dispute by acquiring a portion of Tencent, which owns 40% of Epic.

Document excerpt, courtesy of GI.biz:

Google recognized that Epic might not accept its offer. As a potential alternative', a senior Google executive proposed that Google 'consider approaching Tencent', a company that owns a minority stake in Epic, 'to either (a) buy Epic shares from Tencent to get more control over Epic', or '( B) join up with Tencent to buy 100% of Epic'.

This follows a long-going battle between Google and Epic over what is allowed on the Google Play storefront. Its a long, complicated process, but it basically boils down to Epic wanting to avoid Googles (and Apples) 30% cut on transactions on their platform. The battle extended into Apples iOS platform as well.

The legal world is a complicated one. And while we arent experts, we can see how buying out your boss might be considered a bad practice when looking to settle legal disputes.