Japan's Bridgestone Corp has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $425 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices on certain automotive parts, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.The case involved anti-vibration rubber parts sold in the United States and elsewhere to Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Corp, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, Suzuki Motor Corp, Isuzu Motors Ltd and certain of their subsidiaries and affiliates.The agreement is subject to court approval.In a statement, Bridgestone said its management "sincerely regrets the actions that resulted in this plea agreement and that they did not discover these activities at an earlier date." Certain antitrust violations had taken place as long ago as 2001, the company said.
TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the automobile business and financial business. Shares of TM fell by 1.12% or $-1.32/share to $116.24. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $99.34 and as high as $134.94. On average, 431855 shares of TM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 327868.
Source
