BrandSnark: Good Week/Bad Week for the Big Brands

Good Week: Volvo – The automobile manufacturer announced this week that by 2019, every car that rolls off its assembly lines will have an electric engine. Some will work in tandem with an internal combustion engine; others will be all-electric. But the brand built on “box-y safety” is all-in.

Bad Week: Google – The European Union slaps the search giant with a record-setting $2.7B antitrust fine, maintaining that Google denied consumers “a genuine choice" by using its search engine to unfairly steer them to its own shopping platform.

Worse Week: Microsoft – While we’re on the other side of the pond: Microsoft announced it will cut thousands of jobs – primarily sales positions outside of the U.S. – as it shifts its focus to cloud sales.