Google on Track for Another Record High: Lobbying Expenses

Google this week disclosed it spent $4.18 million on U.S. lobbying in the third quarter of 2012, bringing the company to $13.13 million spent this year — a record.

That makes Google the seventh-biggest lobbying spender out there, right after AT&T and the pharmaceutical industry.

Google’s previous largest year ever was 2011, when it spent $9.68 million. Its largest quarter ever was the first of this year, when it spent $5.03 million on efforts like defeating the SOPA anti-piracy legislation.

The big looming issue for Google now is an antitrust investigation being conducted by the Federal Trade Commission. Plus, there are lots of ongoing issues, like driverless-car testing and immigration reform.

As for some of its tech competitors, in the third quarter, Facebook spent $980,000 on lobbying, while Microsoft spent $1,860,000.

Meanwhile, Google his hired Austin Schlick, the formal general counsel for the Federal Communications Commission, to join its legal team, per Hillicon Valley.