The Star Tribune clams up

A major Minnesota company has apparently committed serious corporate misconduct. It has hired senior management in violation of management’s agreements with its former employer, the Minnesota’s company’s most significant local competitor. (Management contends that the agreements in issue were orally waived.) It has taken advantage of confidential information covertly removed by senior management from management’s former employer. The information taken appears to include that of the kind the antitrust laws prohibit competitors from sharing.
All in all, the misconduct is of the kind that the Minneapolis Star Tribune usually condemns in high dudgeon. In this case, however, it has understandably remained silent, because it is the Star Tribune itself that has committed it, or so it appears. It is a remarkable story, covered here by the Star Tribune, here by the St. Paul Pioneer Press (the Star Tribune’s local competitor), and here by the AP.
The linked stories are based on the first day of a hearing on the Pioneer Press’s motion for an injunction. The hearing continues today with the Star Tribune’s side of the story.
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