This big chicken price-fixing scandal means a $110M fine for Pilgrim's Pride
In the criminal chicken world... everyone has a bone to pick. Pilgrim's Pride, the US' 2nd largest chicken processor, has reached a plea deal with the DoJ on poultry price-fixing charges. It'll have to pay a $110M fine, and is expected to plead guilty. Price fixing: an (illegal) agreement among competitors that raises or lowers prices to their benefit.
- Example: If one toilet paper company charges $5/roll, we'll buy from a cheaper company (and the pricier one loses). If every TP maker decides to charge $5/roll, we have no choice (and the TP kings make bank).
- Eggs-ample: That's basically what Pilgrim and other companies allegedly did with chicken, pushing up prices for chains like Popeyes, Walmart, and other buyers (including us).
That's clucked up... Right. And it's bigger than just Pilgrim's. From 2012 to 2019, multiple US chicken companies (including nugget legend Tyson) allegedly coordinated to suppress competition. The DoJ says that chicken salespeople were calling each other across companies to talk price. Hypothetical eg: "Hey Bob, with KFC we're going no less than 5 cents/wing, right?"
This relates to Big Techies... Big Tech companies have been getting major heat from regulators over anti-competitive practices. The difference with tech staples like Amazon and Facebook is that they don't need to be in cahoots, because the competition basically doesn't exist.