Dallas, Texas 05/06/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) recently announced to have agreed for a settlement regarding its hiring practices with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Attorney General of California. The company will pay out $3.75 million as a part of this settlement towards covering compensation to impacted employees along with various fees and costs. However, this settlement is still subject to court approval.
However, this is not something new in the technology industry as tech giants Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), along with two other technology firms – Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), recently reached a $324 million settlement with 64,000 employees who were harmed by similar situations where large tech companies denied to hire from each other. Such non-hiring agreements are distorting the markets while lowering wage pays inside the industry.
The Contrary View Points:
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) affirmed that the policy which prompted this lawsuit was legal and acceptable and it did not lead to any anticompetitive effects in the talent market in which the company competes. However, the Head of the Antitrust Division, Department of Justice, Bill Baer said, “His office doesn’t have any other active investigations into recruitment practices by companies. The behavior here was blatant and egregious. Part of what we’ve done here is make it abundantly clear to high-tech companies that the antitrust laws apply to them. You can’t innovate your way around the antitrust laws.”
The Complaint:
The U.S. complaint filed against eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) in 2012, alleged its senior executives of striking mutual understanding with Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)’s senior executives to avoid recruiting and hiring each other’s’ employees. Such practices are usually believed to distort competition for skilled professionals.
Stock Update:
The stock gained 0.62% during Friday’s traded and closed at $52.01. Over the last week the stock plunged by 3.18%.
