OTHER NEWS - April 24, 1996

Reader’s Digest Settles Lawsuit: Reader’s Digest Assn. Inc. has agreed to pay $40 million to settle the class-action suit accusing it of unfairly monopolizing the distribution of magazines for school fund-raisers. The lawsuit was filed against Reader’s Digest and its QSP Inc. unit in 1992 by the Chino Unified School District and other schools. About 23,000 schools are represented in the suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The lawsuit alleged that the company and its unit “through a variety of practices in restraint of trade had unfairly monopolized the business by which schools raise funds by selling magazine subscriptions,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers said. QSP confirmed it agreed to settle the lawsuit “to avoid the expense and distraction of protracted litigation.” The Pleasantville, N.Y.-based company’s shares fell $3 to $42.375 on the NYSE.