Manipulating prices - 6 companies such as Samsung were fined 1.47 billion by the European Union

December 6 news, according to foreign media reports, the EU anti-monopoly regulatory authority on Wednesday to Philips, LG Electronics, Samsung SDI and three other companies to impose 1.47 billion euros (about 1.92 billion U.S. dollars) fines for their manipulation of television With the display cathode tube price nearly 10 years, this fine has created a new record for fines in similar cases.

It is reported that the maximum amount of fines that Philips bears amounts to 313.4 million euros; followed by LG Electronics, the fine is 295.6 million euros. The other companies punished by the EU Competition Commission and the fines were: Panasonic 157.5 million euros, Samsung SDI 150.85 million euros, Toshiba 28 million euros, and France Technicolor 38.6 million euros.

Two companies jointly established by Panasonic and other companies have also been fined. Taiwan’s Chunghwa Picture Tubes escaped fines by helping to disclose the inside story.

These vendors formed two cartel organizations, one related to television and the other related to computer monitors. The executives of those companies held many “green meetings” (called green meetings because they usually go for a round of golf after the meeting) and discussed how to manipulate market prices and divide the market.

In the statement, Joaquin Almunia, EU commission commissioner, said: "These cartel organizations are typical cartel organizations. They have undergone various actions that harm fair competition in the market. Those actions are strict in Europe. forbidden."

He said that the above-mentioned manufacturers' violations are very harmful to consumers because the cathode tube components account for 50% to 70% of the total price of the monitor.

Cathode tubes have now been replaced by more advanced display technologies such as liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, and OLED displays.

Prior to this, the highest amount of fines imposed by the European Union on cartel organizations was the fine it imposed on an auto glass cartel in 2008, when the fine was 1.38 billion euros.

Two years ago, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, Samsung Electronics, LG Display and three other LCD makers were fined a total of 648 million euros for participating in a cartel organization.