Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP Reminds Yahoo! Inc. Shareholders of Important Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit

RADNOR, Pa., Feb. 03, 2017 -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP announces that a shareholder class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) (“Yahoo” or the “Company”) on behalf of purchasers of the Company’s securities between November 12, 2013 and December 14, 2016, inclusive (the “Class Period”).

Deadline Reminder: Investors who purchased Yahoo securities during the Class Period may, no later than March 27, 2017, petition the Court to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class.  For additional information or to learn how to participate in this action please visit https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/yahoo-inc#join

Yahoo is a multinational technology company that provides a variety of internet services including a search engine, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, advertising and fantasy sports. As of February 2016, Yahoo had an estimated 1 billion monthly active users.  On July 25, 2016, Verizon Communications, Inc. (“Verizon”) formally announced its intent to acquire Yahoo’s internet business for $4.8 billion.

The shareholder class action complaint alleges that Yahoo and certain of its executive officers made a series of materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations and prospects to investors during the Class Period.  Specifically, the defendants are alleged to have made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Yahoo failed to encrypt its users’ personal information and/or failed to encrypt its users’ personal data with an up-to-date and secure encryption scheme; (ii) consequently, sensitive personal account information from more than 1 billion users was vulnerable to theft; (iii) a data breach resulting in the theft of personal user data would foreseeably cause a significant drop in user engagement with Yahoo’s websites and services; and (iv) as a result, Yahoo’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On September 22, 2016, Yahoo disclosed that hackers had stolen information in late 2014 on more than 500 million user accounts. On this news, Yahoo’s share price fell $1.35 per share, or over 3%, to close on September 23, 2016 at $42.80 per share.

Then, on December 14, 2016, Yahoo announced an additional data breach and reported that data from more than 1 billion user accounts had been compromised in August 2013.  Further, Yahoo disclosed that, “[f]or potentially affected accounts, the stolen user account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (using MD5) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.”  Following this disclosure, The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon was considering ways to amend the terms of its deal with Yahoo to reflect the impact of the data breach and would likely seek “major concessions” from Yahoo.  On this news, Yahoo’s share price fell an additional $2.50 per share, or over 6%, to close on December 15, 2016 at $38.41 per share.

Finally, on January 23, 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had opened an investigation into the timing of Yahoo’s disclosures regarding the data breaches.

Yahoo shareholders may, no later than March 27, 2017, petition the Court to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.  A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation.  In order to be appointed as a lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member’s claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class in the action.  Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.  For additional information or to learn how to participate in this action please visit https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/yahoo-inc#join

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country.  Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered billions of dollars on behalf of institutional and individual investors from the United States and around the world.  The firm represents investors, consumers and whistleblowers (private citizens who report fraudulent practices against the government and share in the recovery of government dollars).  The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check.  For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT: 

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
Darren J. Check, Esq.
D. Seamus Kaskela, Esq.
Adrienne O. Bell, Esq.
280 King of Prussia Road
Radnor, PA 19087
(888) 299-7706
(610) 667-7706
[email protected]