Disgraceful Practices by LCD Manufacturers

Sharp, LG, Chungwha Picture Tubes Plea Guilty

Today, in a Federal Court in San Francisco, LCD Display Manufacturers SHARP and LG plead guilty (along with a third Japanese manufacturer) to price fixing for LCD displays. The fine will be approximately $585 million among the three companies.

Just another example, in my opinion, of greedy, disgusting, careless and heartless corporate practices by major corporations. In the US, first it was Fannie Mae, Freddy Mack and AIG that drove themselves under by scrambling any way they could to make a buck. Now, 2 of the top electronics manufacturers are price gouging consumers and fellow corporate customers (Not just your Apple and Dell, but also smaller resellers like IMS).

Sharp and LG got caught, but I'm sure they're not the only ones that have partaken. What I would imagine this will mean is that other manufacturers, such as Sony, Toshiba, etc, will begin to drop their prices just in time for the holiday sale rush (given the economic downturn, this was probably going to happen anyway). The question is, are Sharp and LG now for sale given the expensive fine? Probably not.