By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a lawsuit through which shareholders accused the chipmaker of defrauding them by hiding its anticompetitive gross sales and licensing practices.
A preliminary all-cash settlement was filed on Tuesday with the federal court docket in San Diego.
It requires approval by U.S. District Decide Jinsook Ohta, who licensed the lawsuit as a category motion in March 2023.
Qualcomm and 6 particular person defendants, together with former chief executives Paul Jacobs and Steven Mollenkopf, denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The San Diego-based firm didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Shareholders accused Qualcomm of artificially inflating its share worth between February 2012 and January 2017 by repeatedly describing its chip gross sales and know-how licensing as separate companies, when the truth is Qualcomm bundled them to stifle competitors.
In January 2017, the Federal Commerce Fee and Apple (NASDAQ:) sued Qualcomm individually in reference to its alleged efforts to monopolize the marketplace for baseband processors, a sort of chip utilized in cellphones.
Apple stated Qualcomm used its monopoly place to overcharge for chips, and search onerous and expensive phrases for know-how licenses.
Qualcomm known as the claims baseless, however its share worth fell 13% on the primary full buying and selling day after Apple sued.
The case is In re Qualcomm Inc Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court docket, Southern District of California, No. 17-00121.