Alibaba to pay $433.5 million to settle shareholder lawsuit over monopoly claims By Reuters

(Reuters) – China’s Alibaba (NYSE:) stated on Friday it had agreed to pay $433.5 million to settle a U.S. class-action lawsuit filed by traders alleging monopolistic practices by the e-commerce big. Alibaba denied wrongdoing, saying it entered the settlement to keep away from the price and disruption of additional litigation. The proposed settlement was filed in federal courtroom in Manhattan and requires the approval of U.S. District Choose George Daniels. The lawsuit, filed in 2020, alleged that Alibaba claimed it didn’t violate anti-monopoly or unfair competitors legal guidelines, regardless of requiring retailers to decide on just one distribution platform.

The settlement covers traders in Alibaba’s American depositary shares from Nov. 13, 2019, to Dec. 23, 2020, and resolves claims they suffered losses when the market acknowledged Alibaba’s deceptive statements and the inventory value fell. Legal professionals for the plaintiffs in courtroom papers known as the proposed deal “an distinctive consequence,” saying it vastly exceeded the median restoration in securities class actions the place the investor losses exceeded $10 billion. The utmost damages award the Alibaba traders may have probably sought had they continued litigating was $11.63 billion, the legal professionals wrote. The case is in re Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Securities Litigation, U.S. District Courtroom, Southern District of New York, No. 20-09568.