Qualcomm has reached a 75 million dollar (69.8 million euros) settlement in a lawsuit with shareholders. This is in compensation for misleading anticompetitive sales and licensing practices that artificially inflated its stock price.
According to the shareholders who went to court, the chip manufacturer allegedly artificially boosted its share price between February 2012 and January 2017 by repeatedly indicating that its processor sales and technology licensing were two separate activities. In practice, the company bundled these activities to undermine competition.
Qualcomm denies wrongdoing
In response to shareholder allegations, Qualcomm and six individually indicted (former) top executives claimed that the company did no harm. Yet, to satisfy shareholders, the chip giant apparently reached a settlement anyway, Reuters writes. Qualcomm itself did not comment on the matter.
Previous lawsuits
This is not the first lawsuit the chip giant has been involved in regarding sales and licensing. In 2017, both the competition regulator FTC and Apple opened lawsuits against the chip maker.
This case arose partly because Qualcomm allegedly abused its position as a processor supplier for the mobile market. They supposedly charged high prices and imposed extreme conditions for companies to obtain the necessary licenses.
In addition, the chip manufacturer was sued several times for possibly violating other IP rights.
Also read: Qualcomm returns to court to fight another EU antitrust fine