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SEC revisits allegations of Intel-Dell symbiosis
The Securities and Exchange Commission is revisiting allegations of a long, symbiotic relationship between Dell and Intel.
A complaint filed Thursday alleges Dell was a recipient of massive, multibillion-dollar, multiyear Intel payments in order to keep Dell from adopting processors from Advanced Micro Devices, an argument also put forward in an antitrust lawsuit last year by the New York attorney general and in an AMD 2005 lawsuit against Intel--settled last year--among other legal actions.
The SEC on Thursday announced a $100 million settlement with both Dell, the company, and Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. The PC maker is neither admitting nor denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint.
Dell, however, reiterated on Thursday that it had previously instituted remedial measures, including finance and accounting training, organizational structure changes separating the accounting function from the finance function, internal financial and accounting processes, and systems infrastructure investment to ensure effective, transparent accounting and appropriate internal financial controls.
Though Intel is not a party to the case, it made the following the statement: "We cooperated with the SEC in the case. Any characterization of Intel's relationship with Dell has not been tested or adjudicated by any court. This is strictly a settlement between Dell and the FTC."
The SEC filing on Thursday starts by alleging that "beginning at least as early as 2001, Intel began to provide additional 'rebates' to Dell and other personal computer makers that were not related to the contractual marketing program and that were different in character from ordinary course price discounts. No one disclosed these payments to the market."
The SEC continues, alleging that the percentage of Dell's operating income that was based on Intel payments increased dramatically between… Read more
