Original URL: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/02/14/clare_intel_raid/
The former boss of Dixons Store Group International (DSGI) says he was surprised at the European Commission raids on retailers earlier this week.
The EC raided a DSGI call centre in Hemel Hempstead, as well as the offices of German and French retailers on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour by Intel. John Clare spent 22 years at DSGI and ended up as chief executive. He retired last September.
Clare said: "I find it very odd that they [the commission] conducted dawn raids on a retailer," according to the Financial Times. (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d8462738-daa0-11dc-9bb9-0000779fd2ac.html)
He said Intel was paranoid about getting into trouble for abusing its dominant position and therefore insisted that all dealings with retailers followed a strict manual which limited the rebates they could offer and other aspects of trading.
The European Commission has been looking at Intel since 2001 following a complaint from rival AMD which accused Intel of effectively stitching up the European market and taking retaliatory action against retailers which also offered AMD-based machines. Intel has always denied such claims. ®
Dixons admits 'it's even worse than you thought' (15 May 2008)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/05/15/dsg_turnaround/
Sales slide at PC World, Currys (10 April 2008)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/04/10/dsgi_issues_second_profit_warning/
Intel and Dixons raided by Competition Commission (12 February 2008)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/02/12/intel_dixons_raided/
PC superstore unhinged by Linux (13 September 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/09/13/pc_world_linux/
DSG computing sales up, profits down (20 June 2007)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/20/dsg_numbers/
DSGi to flog The Link to O2 (21 June 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/06/21/dsg_link/
© Copyright 2008