Alibaba Class Action Lawsuit Revived...

class action raises key issue of the sufficiency of IPO disclosure (author's picture)

     It seems that the securities class action litigation space is not solely dominated by lawsuits against ICOs issuers. Alibaba to date holds the record for launching the largest IPO in history on September 19, 2014 raising US$25 billion. Recently the Second Circuit Court of Appeals permitted a securities class action lawsuit to go forward against Alibaba and several of its senior insiders like Jack Ma. The dispute centers around the alleged failure to disclose, in its IPO documents, an allegedly secret meeting between Alibaba and one of China's e-commerce regulator which threatened to levy huge daily fines if Alibaba didn’t halt the sale of counterfeit goods through its website by third-party resellers. Plaintiffs argue that such alleged failure would have materially affected their investment decision with respect to participating in the IPO.  Alibaba argues that its disclosure documents sufficiently disclosed related regulatory risks. 

     This case will put issuers on notice as to the sufficiency of their disclosure documents related to regulatory matters. Definitely worthwhile to follow this case as it winds it way towards trial or settlement.