BanxCorp, operator of the BanxQuote website, sued media companies including News Corp.’s Dow Jones & Co. and New York Times Co., accusing them of forming a cartel to sell information on bank interest rates online, writes Don Jeffrey of Bloomberg News.
Jeffrey reports, “The companies conspired with Bankrate Inc. to ‘gain an unfair advantage over the plaintiff’ by fixing the prices that banks pay to have rates listed on websites, according to the complaint. BanxCorp, based in Scarsdale, New York, estimates damages at more than $500 million.
‘The defendants through the cartel have made it virtually impossible for competing bank rate websites to remain in business or become newly established,’ lawyers for BanxCorp said in the lawsuit.
“Financial institutions pay to list their interest rates on websites run by BanxCorp and Bankrate, then consumers use the sites to find the most competitive rates for financial products such as certificates of deposit and mortgages. The media companies republish the data.
“The other defendants named are General Electric Co.’s CNBC, Time Warner Inc.’s Cable News Network, Microsoft Corp.’s and GE’s MSNBC Interactive News LLC, News Corp.’s Fox News Network and Move Inc.”
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