Money Minute: Tech Giants Settle Suit; Amazon Tests Delivery

Four of the nation's biggest tech companies settle a lawsuit alleging they colluded to hold down salaries.

More than 64,000 workers are part of the class action suit claiming that Apple (AAPL), Intel (INTC), Google (GOOG) and Adobe Systems (ADBE) secretly agreed to hold down wages by not poaching each other's employees. Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed, but reports say it's for far less than the $3 billion sought by the workers. Apparently, the companies didn't want to take this one to trial next month, and risk a huge judgment and a lot of lousy publicity.

Amazon.com (AMZN) may be coming to your door -- not just its packages, but Amazon delivery trucks bringing your goods from the warehouse right to your home. The company will test out the idea in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. It could allow Amazon to offer same day deliveries.

%VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks%Netflix (NFLX) is about to test an idea that could make it easier for subscribers to toggle back and forth between the movies they order and the regular TV programs they watch. The company is working with three small cable companies to stream its shows through TiVo (TIVO) set top boxes, in effect making Netflix another channel on your cable lineup.

Here on Wall Street on Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) did nothing. Really, nothing. The Dow ended the day right where it started. It's the first time that's happened since December of 2001. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) gained 3 points, and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) rose 21.

Apple raised its quarterly dividend the other day, and it now pays out more cash to its shareholders than any other company -- more than $11 billion a year. It's followed by Exxon Mobil (XOM), AT&T (T), Microsoft (MSFT) and General Electric (GE).

Finally, one of Europe's biggest discount clothing retailers is coming to the U.S. Primark, known for its fashionable looks and low prices, will open in Boston next year, with plans to expand to other cities after that.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.