Silicon Valley Tech Giants Settle Wage-Fixing Class Action

Some of Silicon Valley’s largest tech firms have reached a $324 million settlement in an antitrust class action, far less than the $9 billion sought by the more than 64,000-person class of tech workers. A 2010 Department of Justice probe found damning e-mails between the likes of Apple’s founder and then-CEO Steve Jobs, Google chief Eric Schmidt, and Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen and other major Silicon Valley leaders, showing the companies agreeing to a “hands-off” recruiting arrangement that artificially depressed the salaries of thousands of workers.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rebuffed the tech giants’ efforts to have the suit tossed out, and the settlement comes ahead of a May 27 San Jose trial date. The tech workers had planned to ask for $3 billion in damages at trial, but it could have tripled to $9 billion under antitrust law. Last year, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Intuit settled for a combined $20 million.