Hitachi Fined $31 Million For LCD Price Fixing

MojoKid writes "The Japanese electronics manufacturer has just agreed to pay a staggering $31 million fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices in the sale of TFT-LCD panels sold to Dell, Inc. The United States Department of Justice made the proclamation, and details show that Hitachi has plead guilty to a one-count felony. The charge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, blames Hitachi Displays Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., with 'participating in a conspiracy to fix the prices of TFT-LCD sold to Dell for use in desktop monitors and notebook computers from April 1, 2001 through March 31, 2004.'"

Comments

Which Hitachi?

[Jane Q. Public]

Remember, this Hitachi is only a small subsidiary of the bigger Hitachi, and mentioned in TFA.

Re:Who gets the $31 million?

[kklein]

I'd rather a profitable, productive company like Hitachi keep the money than the parasitic government.

Yes, but that's because you think that if we adopted your feudal economic system again, you'd be a lord, not a serf.

That is to say, you are a moron.

Re:Pay $31M, Made $300M

[earlymon]

Not so fast, compadre - according to TFA, some guys from Chunghwa were sentenced to jail time and indictments have been handed down to LG execs.

Lousy summary - Hitachi didn't price fix by themselves, they had (above named) partners.

It is beginning to look like fines are only part of the picture here.

$31m Is Small, Not "Staggering"

[meehawl]

In 2005, Samsung paid $300m for price fixing. Hynix paid $185m. Infineon paid $160m, and four of its execs went to prison and paid $250,000 each.

In 2008, LG paid $400m in fines for price fixing. Sharp paid $120m. Chunghwa paid $65m.

So... $35m. In this context, not very "staggering".

Re:How Much?

[hardburn]

They've also been hit with criminal fines of over $585 million.