Whoa, that’s one way to settle a lawsuit that is going poorly…
News America Marketing, a unit of the News Corporation that produces coupon inserts and sells advertising in supermarkets, settled a lawsuit this week with a competitor that had accused it of anticompetitive behavior and corporate spying.
On Wednesday, News America bought the company, Floorgraphics, outright for an undisclosed sum.
The lawsuit was settled after witnesses began testifying in the trial in federal court in New Jersey. The original lawsuit was filed in 2004.
In a brief statement, a spokeswoman for News America confirmed the acquisition, saying, “We’re pleased to be expanding our network of stores to better serve our customers and we’re very excited to incorporate the quality network so ably developed by Floorgraphics.”
[From News Corp. Unit Settles Suit With a Rival, Then Buys It – NYTimes.com]
Surprising development, actually. Rupert Murdoch must have made FGI an offer they couldn’t refuse.
[more details at Jim Edwards blog: bnet]
Heard second-hand that News paid FGI’s owners $125,000,000 to settle. Not sure what the sales reps and other staff are getting as far as severance, they all say ‘gag order’, ‘gag order’.
From a loose lipped lawyer on a train to DC I heard the actual number that FGI walked away with is just over a tenth of that number
10 million? Really, that’s all? FGI should have held out for more