P.M. BRIEFING : Baby Formula Price Rig Alleged
The nation’s top three makers of infant formula illegally conspired to drive up prices and keep other manufacturers out of the industry, Florida’s attorney general charged in an antitrust suit today.
Atty. Gen. Bob Butterworth filed a civil complaint in Tallahassee federal court against Abbott Laboratories of Abbott Park, Ill., American Home Products Corp. of New York City and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., also of New York City.
The three companies together control 95% of the infant formula market, Butterworth said.
He charged that they violated state and federal antitrust laws by conspiring to fix wholesale prices and by using a marketing scheme intended to discourage others from entering the infant formula market.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
