Western Digital today reported that on November 18, 2011, an arbitration award of $525 million was rendered against the company by an arbitrator in a pending confidential arbitration action in Minnesota. The amount of the award does not include prejudgment interest, which will be subsequently determined. The award involves claims brought by Seagate Technology LLC against WD and one employee who was formerly employed by Seagate, alleging misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets.

"We do not believe there is any basis in law or fact for the damage award of the arbitrator," said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer. "We believe the company acted properly at all times and we will vigorously challenge the award. This does not affect our ability to conduct our operations, to complete the recovery and recommencement of our Thailand operations or, subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals, to consummate our planned acquisition of Hitachi GST."

Seagate did not comment on the matter.

Western Digital in March agreed to acquire Hitachi's hard drive business for $4.3 billion, which is undergoing regulatory approvals. Seagate in April agreed to buy Samsung's hard drive business for $1.38 billion, which has been approved by the European Union.