I’ve never even heard of a HomePod bricking itself, nor does it sound plausible that Apple would charge to fix a device they bricked themselves, especially at $1 less than the price of a new device. I feel like you’re omitting something here.
And the out-of-warranty repair cost is $279. Perhaps they got it on sale at $280. https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/12/17003296/homepod-repair-i...
Going by what you feel the news cycle should have done may not be reliable for a less popular product like HomePod.