A dozen appliance marketers in France have been fined after the government there found they had joined together to fix prices going back 15 years or more. Appliance giants Whirlpool, Electrolux and LG were among those fined a total (together) of $635 million, according to the international news agency Reuters.
France’s antitrust agency has fined 12 household appliance makers and distributors, including Electrolux, Whirlpool and LG, a total of 611 million euros ($635 million) for price fixing between 2007 and 2014.
“These practices reduced competition between distributors and kept prices artificially high for end consumers,” the competition authority said last week.
Ten of the 12 companies did not contest the facts alleged.
Groupe SEB, which owns the Tefal and Rowenta brands and received the largest fine of 189.5 million euros, denied the accusations and said it planned to appeal against the ruling.
French retailer Fnac Darty, which was fined 109 million euros, acknowledged the decision and said it would settle the transaction in 2025, using short-term financing.
Representatives for Electrolux, Whirlpool and LG did not immediately respond to requests for comment to Reuters.
It was not immediately apparent from a search of international news sources precisely how much Whirlpool was fined as one of the 12 companies. European operations have been a decreasing segment of Whirlpool’s business plan over recent years as the company focused on its much larger business in North America.
