Not just to S&N but also KFX. The KFX settlement could be more than the S&N. Genius business model, steal other companies ideas, make millions, fight in court, then charge settlement costs back to distributors, who then just pass charge backs onto reps...brilliant!
It means that Arthrex has to poney-up $29 Mil-Large to settle the lawsuit...but Herr Reinhold Schmieding isn't paying out of HIS pocket. Instead, he's most likely going to cut/slash/burn the commission he pays to his distributor agents to attone for this ruling; by proxy, Arthrex reps out in the trenches will potentially see their commission rates decrease over a period of time. Perhaps this will take effect when the new business plan for 2015 unfolds. I believe the fact that he GOT CAUGHT bothers him more than the settlement amount...after all, he's a self-made billionaire, right?
Arthrex did nearly 2 billion in sales last year. 29 Million is a drop in the bucket. Not saying it goes unnoticed, but a check for 29 mill didn't cause a commission increase
The $29M is noise, 0.14% of gross revenue. This equals the cost of wine and cheese in Naples for 6 months.