By Connor Hart
Alibaba Group has agreed to pay $433.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit waged by shareholders that in part alleged the company hurt investors by making misstatements about its exclusivity practices.
The China-based e-commerce platform company, which denied any allegations of fault, liability, wrongdoing or damages, said in a regulatory filing Friday it entered the settlement to avoid the cost and disruption of further litigation.
The settlement is subject to a number of conditions, including court approval.
The legal action, filed in March 2023 in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, alleged that Alibaba violated federal securities laws by making numerous misstatements about its antitrust and exclusivity practices that artificially raised its stock price and eventually caused financial losses to investors.
The suit was filed against Alibana, as well as specific directors and officers, on behalf of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the company's American depositary shares between July 9, 2020, and Dec. 23, 2020.
During the time, the suit alleged the company employed exclusivity practices with "required or coerced merchants to see exclusively on Alibaba platforms," while also punishing merchants who sold on competitors' platforms.
The company continued to do so after it pledged to cease such practices as part of an agreement signed in July 2020 with the State Administration for Market Regulation, which enforces China's e-commerce and anti-monopoly laws, according to the suit.
Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 25, 2024 19:01 ET (23:01 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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