14 DAY TRIAL // Quite a few companies seem to be getting fined nowadays, with LG being the latest to add its name to the list of wrongdoers in a case that has been going on for years.
Investigations into conspiracies take a long time, so we aren't really shocked to learn that the one regarding price fixing on TVs and computers is still going.
We do feel like things may finally be drawing to a close though, as companies have been agreeing to pay settlements one after another.
Some continue to deny involvement, but fines have still been leveled against them, Toshiba being the most recent example ($87 million / €69 million).
Meanwhile, Samsung, Sharp and Hitachi have had settlements approved, and LG has joined them in a very drastic fashion.
Simply put, the company will be paying the largest settlement. And by “largest” we don't just mean the highest sum of money out of all the companies being investigated in this particular case. Instead, LG has scored the rather unfortunate record of highest price-fixing settlement in the history of the US.
The sum is $380 million, or €310 million, which means that the total settlement sum in the whole investigation is now hovering $1 billion / €817 million (the other companies had previously accumulated a total of $571 million / €466 million).
LG, like Toshiba, denies actually having unlawfully fixed prices, claiming that the settlement is meant to avoid further expenses and the distraction of a drawn-out litigation.
In related news, there is another display lawsuit going on, but between some companies instead of corporations and the authorities: Sharp has agreed to pay Dell and two others for undisclosed motives. The sum is $198.5 million, or €161.73 million if exchange rates are anything to go by. Read more about it here.