If recent jury verdicts are any indication, companies are facing enormous repercussions when hit with antitrust liability and the damage is not just monetary—it is also reputational. Jury verdicts finding companies liable for antitrust violations often make headline news. For example, in September 2021, a jury awarded over $28 million in damages to BASF—automatically trebled to $84.9 million—after the jury found that Ingevity violated antitrust laws by tying sales of its products to patent licenses. See Ingevity v. BASF, C.A. No. 1:18-1391 (D. Del.). Likewise, in November 2019, a California jury found in favor of Optronic Technologies and awarded it $16.8 million—automatically trebled to $50.4 million—after the jury found a conspiracy to allocate and monopolize the telescope market. See Optronic Techs. v. Ningbo Sunny Elec. Co., C.A. No. 5:16-cv-06370 (N.D. Cal).

The financial implications are not just reflected in jury verdicts. Settlements of antitrust lawsuits have also reached staggering figures. In October 2020, Blue Cross Blue Shield settled an antitrust suit for $2.67 billion. See In re Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litig., C.A. No. 2:13-20000 (N.D. Ala.). More recently, in March 2022, generic drug company Ranbaxy agreed to pay $485 million to settle antitrust claims levied against it. Suffice to say, antitrust lawsuits can come at major cost to the company’s shareholders, its employees, and its reputation. See In re Ranbaxy Generic Drug Application Antitrust Litig., C.A. No. 19-2878 (D. Mass).