Pittsburgh Law Office of Alfred G. Yates Jr., PC Announces Lawsuit Against Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA)

PITTSBURGH, March 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Notice is hereby given that a shareholder class action has been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of purchasers of Alibaba Group Holding Limited ("Alibaba") (NYSE: BABA) American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") during the period between October 21, 2014 and January 28, 2015 (the "Class Period").

The complaint charges Alibaba and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  Alibaba is a China-based online and mobile commerce company in retail and wholesale trade, as well as cloud computing and other services.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than March 31, 2015.  If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Alfred G. Yates Jr., Esquire at 1-800-391-5164, toll free. You may also contact him by email at [email protected] or through the law office web site at http://yatesclassactionlaw.com/contact_us.php. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint alleges that during the class period, Defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the soundness of Company's business operations, the strength of its financial prospects and concealing substantial ongoing regulatory scrutiny.  Specifically, the complaint alleges that Alibaba failed to disclose that Company executives had met with China's State Administration of Industry and Commerce ("SAIC") in July 2014, just two months before Alibaba's $25+ billion initial public offering in the United States (the "IPO"), and that regulators had then brought to Alibaba's attention a variety of highly dubious – even illegal – business practices.  In the IPO, Alibaba and certain "selling shareholders" sold more than 368 million ADSs at $68 each.  The complaint alleges that selling shareholders included two of Alibaba's co-founders, Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, each of whom sold millions of shares. The complaint also alleges that throughout the Class Period, Alibaba's ADSs continued trading at ever-increasing, artificially inflated prices reaching a Class Period high of $120 each in intraday trading on November 13, 2014 and that in November 2014, the Company raised another $8 billion in a debt offering.

The complaint further alleges that on January 28, 2015, before the opening of trading, various members of the financial media reported that SAIC had released a white paper accusing Alibaba of engaging in the very illegal conduct disclosed to Alibaba executives in July 2014.  On this news, the complaint alleges that the price of Alibaba ADSs declined unusually high trading volume.  Then, the complaint alleges, on January 29, 2015, before the market opened, Alibaba issued a press release announcing its financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.  The complaint alleges that revenue growth missed the target defendants had led the investment community to expect and that profits declined 28% from Alibaba's fourth quarter 2013 results.  According to the complaint, the Company blamed an inability to monetize growing transactions on its mobile platforms, where advertising is less profitable than on personal computers.  As a result of these disclosures, the complaint alleges that the price of Alibaba ADSs plummeted further and collectively the two drops erased more than $11 billion in market capitalization from the ADSs Class Period high.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Alibaba ADSs during the Class Period (the "Class").

Contact:

Alfred G. Yates Jr., Esquire
1-800-391-5164
[email protected]

SOURCE Law Office of Alfred G. Yates Jr., PC