Viacom ordered to pay Harmonix several trucks full of money
by Arthur Gies 
on Dec 27th 2011 7:40PM
When Viacom
sold developer Harmonix in November of 2010 for $50, it was really only the beginning of the drama to come. Almost exactly a year ago, ex-shareholders in Harmonix prior to Viacom's buyout of the music game developer
sued the conglomerate for failing to pay performance based bonuses, which were agreed upon when Viacom bought the company back in 2006. Then, earlier this year,
Viacom sued those same stockholders for $131 million for "contractual overpayment." With us so far? Well, take a deep breath. It gets
better.
That lawsuit triggered a
mandatory arbitration clause in the original contract, and now Viacom
has revealed to the LA Times that the private arbitrator in question has ordered the company to pay the former Harmonix shareholders $383 million.
The story is still developing, and this isn't the last you'll hear of it: Viacom has filed in a Delaware Court to have the judgment overturned, because of "improperly excluded" evidence and testimony.
