CASES
News Corporation
Class Period: Mar 3, 2011 to Jul 11, 2011
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Sep 19, 2011 + Deadline passed
Summary of Case:
A securities class action has been filed against News Corporation ("News Corp" or the "Company") on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired News Corp common stock between March 03, 2011 to July 11, 2011. This case has been filed in the USDC - New York (Southern).
The Complaint alleges that reporters, with the knowledge and consent of their editors, at News of the World,a United Kingdom newspaper run by News International, News Corp's 100% wholly owned British newspaper division have been hacking into the cell phones messages of more than 4,000 people for years. The reporters spared no one from their desire to get a story including the voicemail of a 13-year-old murder victim named Milly Dowler. The revelation of this illegal activity set off a furious public backlash worldwide. Other victims of these intercepts include members of the Royal Family, actors, politicians and ordinary citizens who had been victims of high profile crimes and terrorist attacks. In addition allegations have come out that reporters also tried to pay a New York City police officer to hack into the phone messages of the American families and victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. This illegal conduct which was known and covered up by defendants is so outrageous that on July 7, 2011, News Corp announced that it was closing the 168 year old News of the World.
The Complaint further alleges that the efforts to conceal and misrepresent this illegal activity intensified with News Corp's desire to purchase the remaining 61% of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc ("BSkyB") a British satellite broadcasting company. On July 11, 2011, in a last minute attempt to salvage regulatory approval of the deal defendants withdrew its assurances that News Corp would spin off Sky News into a separate company resulting in an automatic referral to the British Competition Commission and avoiding any investigation into whether News Corp would meet the "fit and proper" test to own all of BSkyB. On this news, News Corp's shares fell $1.27. Ultimately, as a result of the growing phone hacking scandal News Corp was forced to withdraw its proposal for BSkyB.
If you purchased this company's shares during the Class Period and suffered a loss or for further information about the case, please review the links below.