AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s second-biggest LCD panel maker, yesterday announced it had been fined US$500 million by a US federal judge for participating in a global LCD price-fixing conspiracy. Company vice chairman Chen Hsuan-bin (陳炫彬) and former vice president Hsiung Hui (熊暉) were sentenced to three years in jail and each ordered to pay a US$200,000 fine.
AU Optronics said it is discussing with lawyers whether to appeal the verdict, as it found the results “unconvincing,” company president Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told a media briefing.
“It is a pity that the innocence of the company was not found under the [US’] legal system,” he said.
“We hope to prove to the appeal court judge that the fine and the prison terms [for the firm’s two executives] are unreasonable,” Peng said.
The fine exceeded the US$285 million mark that AU Optronics considers would have been a reasonable amount.
However, the stock price of AU Optronics rallied 5.05 percent to NT$11.45 yesterday because the fine was only half of the US$1 billion requested by the US Department of Justice last week on Friday. AU Optronics is allowed to pay the fine in installments spread over 3 years.
The Hsinchu-based panel maker had already reserved US$277 million for the anti-trust case, company chief executive officer Andy Yang (楊本豫) said, but would now need to book US$223 million in damage provisions for the anti-trust case, which would be reflected in its financial statement this quarter.
“The fine is larger than our estimate of US$300 million. We have warned our clients to caution against a bigger damage request,” said an analyst with a Japan-based brokerage surnamed Lin (林), who requested not to be named.
Because of the extra damage provision, AU Optronics would see its losses widen to NT$11.3 billion (US$384 million) in the current quarter, compared with NT$4.62 billion originally estimated by the analyst, distancing the company from returning to profitability.
Bigger rival Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子) said on Tuesday that it aimed to swing into monthly profits sometime this quarter.
Last quarter, AU Optronics booked US$208 million in extra provisions to settle price-fixing lawsuits with private groups in the US.
“The verdict has temporarily dissolved uncertainty about the anti-trust case and will bring the management team’s attention back to improving the company’s fundamentals,” Peng said.
The fine is tied with one given to Swiss pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd for the dubious honor of being the highest paid by a company in a Justice Department anti-trust case, Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing agency data.
The drug company pleaded guilty to leading a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices for vitamins and agreed to pay US$500 million to the Justice Department in 1999.
The average prison sentence in these types of anti-trust cases since 2010 is 24 months, according to the report.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique