LCD TV Makers Pay Hefty Price for Price-Fixing
Sharp, Samsung and Others to Pay $388M
They're not quite all the rage they used to be (what, with the rise of LED and 3D), but LCD -- or liquid crystal display -- televisions sure were popular a few years back. Well, it would appear most of us got ripped off when buying them; according to a new report, a group of eight popular television manufacturers will pay almost $400 million fines for allegedly fixing the price of LCD TVs.
According to Bloomberg, Sharp, Samsung, and six other makers of LCD TVs will pay a total of $388 million as part of a settlement involving claims that the firms secretly worked together to maintain a profitable price level for their devices. Sharp, which produces more display panels than any other firm in Japan, will pay $105 million, while Samsung, the world's biggest TV manufacturer, will pay just under $83 million. Chimei Innolux Corp., which is Taiwan's largest maker of display panels, will have to pay $78 million.
It's alleged that these firms rigged LCD TV pricing for an astounding seven years, from 1999 to 2006. The settlement goes all the way back to a class action lawsuit originally filed in 2007.
The eight companies fingered for wrong-doing insist they're innocent. Nevertheless, it's expected they'll pay up when the settlement is approved later this month.
This probably isn't the first time you've heard about LCD TV price fixing. Just last month South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined Sharp and Samsung, as well as a number of other manufacturers, for "collusion". "They colluded on minimum prices of panels, pricing policies on each product type, timing of price increases, and a ban on cash rebates," South Korea said. "They were aware that such action was illegal, and kept their gatherings and information secret."
South Korea's Fair Trade Commission said that activity lasted from 2001 to 2006. It demanded the companies involved pay a fine of $176 million.
Then there was the late 2010 accusation by the European Union that a group of TV makers were price fixing. LG Display and Samsung were included in that round of allegations, and forced to pay a staggering 649 million euros.
Neither Sharp nor Samsung have commented on the issue.
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