At GE, the price-fixing conspiracy in the circuit-breaker division lasted from 1951 to 1958 and, according to the Justice Department, involved some $650 million of revenue, or around $75 million per year, most of which related to sales of electrical equipment to private utilities. The idea was to rotate the business among the four manufacturers of circuit breakers on a fixed percentage basis: GE would get 45 percent, Westinghouse 35 percent, Allis-Chalmers 10 percent, and Federal Pacific 10 percent. Every two weeks or so, the executives would meet to decide whose turn it was next, based on how
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