European Commission has slammed six major electronics companies for indulging in highly forbidden anti-competitive behavior The Commission has imposed a penalty of $1.92 billion on the six companies which is the biggest antitrust penalty in the history of EU.
The six companies which have been involved in this case had been running a ‘cartel’ for two decades. The executives from these companies would met at different locations to finalize the terms at which they would dictate the competition.
The culprits include Philips, LG Electronics and Panasonic. Between 1996 and 2006, these companies collaborated to control the competition in the cathode-ray tubes market. It would be significant to note, during that decade, TVs as well as monitors were extensively making use of cathode-ray tubes, making it a huge business.
Philips and Panasonic have reacted by stating that the penalty imposed by the commission is too much and that they are going to take a legal recourse to retaliate it. Panasonic, for instance, released a statement saying, “Panasonic believes the EU decision is factually and legally erroneous … and will carefully review the decision and consider our options for appeal to the European courts.”
As per the ruling of the Commission, Philips is to pay the highest sum because it played a key role in running the cartel. The company must pay of 313.4 million euros as per the verdict whereas LG Electronics must pay 295.6 million. Other companies involved in the ‘cartel’ are Samsung, Toshiba and Technicolor each of which is also fined millions of dollars.
Source: Reuters
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