Dell is setting aside $100 million for anti-trust settlement

Last year Intel had to pay $1.25 billion to settle anti-trust suits brought on by AMD, the EU and the FTC. Now Dell is setting aside $100 million to prepare for a possible settlement with the SEC for anti-trust allegations. The $100 million has been reduced from their fiscal 2011 year which is about 5 cents per share.

Intel offered Dell rebates for hardware if they refused to work with other CPU manufacturers. Though Dell doesn't admit to doing anything wrong they are setting the money aside because they recognize that accepting the chip rebates from Intel without reporting them to the government might not have been the best decision on their part.

The Dell financial report says "...Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, and the SEC staff have recently commenced discussion of a settlement framework relating to Mr. Dell that would resolve allegations relating to the company’s disclosures and alleged omissions prior to Fiscal 2008 regarding certain aspects of the company’s commercial relationship with Intel Corp." Sam Nunn, director of the Dell Board said, "We are hopeful that these settlement discussions will achieve a comprehensive resolution in the near future. The independent directors of the Board have affirmed that Michael Dell will continue to lead the company as its Chairman and CEO, and he continues to have our complete confidence and support."

Investigations into wrong doings at Dell started in 2005. In response, Dell started in internal investigation that ended in 2007 which led to the restatement of certain historical financial reports and the implementation of extensive remedial measures.