DOJ Eyeing Sony, Others In Criminal Antitrust Probe -Source
By Brent Kendall, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a
criminal antitrust investigation into the market for optical disk drives that
goes beyond a subpoena disclosed by Sony Corp. (SNE, 6758.TO), according to a
source familiar with the investigation.
The source said the department began the probe in recent months, investigating
disk-drive makers for possible price-fixing, bid-rigging and allocation of
markets.
Sony said in a written statement that it received a Justice Department
subpoena seeking information about Sony Optiarc America Inc., a unit that sells
optical disk drives used in personal computers.
The Tokyo-based consumer electronics company said it understood that other
agencies outside the U.S. also were investigating the market for optical disk
drives, which are used in computers to read data, software, music and movies.
Sony said it would cooperate fully in the investigations.
Sony said that Sony Optiarc Inc., the parent of Sony Optiarc America, had
sales of 140 billion yen ($1.52 billion) for the year ended March 2008, the last
year for which Sony disclosed the unit's annual revenue.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
The investigation comes on the heels of a successful Justice Department probe
of price-fixing in the market for liquid crystal displays used in computers,
cell phones and televisions.
That probe snared five companies that paid more than $600 million in combined
criminal fines in 2008 and 2009.
The criminal enforcement program at the department's antitrust division has
aggressively pursued cases in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
In the 2008 fiscal year, the antitrust division brought 54 criminal antitrust
cases against 59 individuals and 25 companies, the department's highest criminal
antitrust caseload since 2000.
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@
dowjones.com
(Yuzo Yamaguchi and Atsuko Fukase contributed to this article.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-26-091608ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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