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Samsung To Pay Out $300 Million In Anti-Trust Suit

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-a-lot-of-ram dept.

infernalC writes "Reuters is reporting that Samsung has agreed to plea guilty to charges of price fixing in the memory market in a $300 million settlement." From the article: " Samsung would become the third chip maker to plead guilty in the wide-ranging probe of the prices of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips. The Justice Department has blamed the price-fixing conspiracy for driving up the price of chips used in products ranging from personal computers and servers to cell phones, cameras and game consoles."

4 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Fines and Penalties by SeanDuggan · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, in theory, it's supposed to discourage them because fines will continue and increase if they continue such a practice. However, the companies are always able to switch to the next shady business practice.

    --
    This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
  2. Jail Time As Well? Infineon Execs Serving Time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/press_releases/200 4/206631.htm

    Four Infineon executives were sent to prison (albeit briefly) as part of their plea bargain, also in SF Superior Court.

  3. that fine is a pittance for them. by MMHere · · Score: 3, Informative
    According to Samsung's 2004 annual report, a $300M fine is pretty much a slap on the corporate wrist for them:

    2004 revenue was just under $122 BILLION, with net income of $11.8 BILLION.

    So the fine is 2.5% of one year's net income, 0.25% of one year's revenue, and a mere 0.14% of their total assets.

    This is incentive against cheating in future? How??

  4. Re:And How Does This Help Me? by kilgortrout · · Score: 3, Informative

    I know this is slashdot and no one reads the article but really. This was a criminal prosecution for price fixing brought by the US Dept of Justice and I can assure you those government attorneys will be getting their usual monthly slalary. The $300 million metioned in the article is a criminal fine to be paid to the government.
    And for the other legal retards out there, criminal fines are not normally divied up among members of the community; it goes into the treasury.