Chump Change: Intel Settles Antitrust Lawsuit in New York for $6.5 million

Posted 02/10/2012 at 2:24pm | by Paul Lilly

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Intel, the world's largest chip maker, has agreed to cut a check for $6.5 million to make an antitrust lawsuit disappear. Or maybe the Santa Clara company will simply dip into its petty cash. Either way, Intel can put the New York state antitrust lawsuit behind it and get back to concentrating on building and selling processors, presumably without running afoul of any laws.

In this case, the agreement "expressly states" that Intel is in no way admitting to any wrongdoing, nor is the chip maker required to change the way it does business. Intel simply has to fork over a lump sum and go on with business as usual.

"Following recent court rulings in Intel’s favor that significantly and appropriately narrowed the scope of this case, we were able to reach an agreement with New York to bring to an end what remained of the case. We have always said that Intel’s business practices are lawful, pro-competitive and beneficial to consumers, and we are pleased this matter has been resolved," said Doug Melamed, senior vice president and general counsel at Intel.

Intel was accused of "bribing or coercing OEMS" like Dell, HP, and others into entering into exclusive or near-exclusive agreements, allegedly paying out billions of dollars to limit or not carry AMD processors. According to Reuters, the $6.5 million settlement represents less than five hours of profit based on Intel's reported net income of $12.94 billion for 2011.