Lawsuit Overview
June 18, 2015 - The court granted defendants' motion to dismiss with leave to amend.
October 28, 2014 - Defendants filed a motion to dismiss.
August 29, 2014 - The lead plaintiff filed an amended consolidated complaint on behalf of investors who purchased Angie's List Inc (NASDAQ: ANGI) common shares between February 13, 2013 and October 23, 2013. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by issuing false and misleading statements between February 13, 2013 and October 23, 2013.
June 16, 2014 - The lead plaintiff and lead counsel were appointed and all cases were consolidated.
February 21, 2014 - Lead plaintiff motions were filed.
December 23, 2013 - An investor in shares of Angie's List Inc (NASDAQ: ANGI) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana against Angie's List Inc over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired Angie's List Inc (NASDAQ: ANGI) between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013, that Angie's List Inc and certain of its officers and directors violated the Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.
More specifically, the plaintiff alleges that defendants between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013, issued allegedly materially false and misleading statements regarding the strength of Angie's List Inc's business model and its financial performance and future prospects and failed to disclose:
- that Angie's List Inc had increased its reliance on providing free memberships in order to artificially boost its subscriber figures,
- that contrary to Angie's List Inc's repeated between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013 statements that the online reviews were unbiased because Angie's List Inc did not permit service providers to buy ratings on its website ( You can't pay to be on Angie's List Inc ), the Company was consistently deriving more than half of its revenues from the service provider side of its business --where it relied heavily on collecting fees for listing paid service providers more prominently,
- that because Angie's List Inc sometimes charged service providers hundreds of dollars for hot leads, those costs were being passed along to Angie's List Inc subscribers, increasing the prices consumers were paying and decreasing the benefit to them of using the website, that the legitimacy of the service provider side of Angie's List Inc's business model was called into question by Angie's List's Inc practice of forcing service providers to pay high fees to be listed as highly rated service providers, knowing that if they did not, they would not get customer referrals from Angie's List Inc,
- that because Angie's List Inc did not vet the service providers listed and recommended on its website, either for qualifications or for safety, many consumers were questioning the value of its recommendations, making them unwilling to continue paying outsized membership fees,
and,
- that as a result of the foregoing, defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the strength of Angie's List Inc's business model and its business and financial prospects between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013.
On February 13, 2013, Angie's List Inc reported its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2012 results. Angie's List Inc reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from $90.04 million in 2011 to $155.80 million in 2012 while its respective Net Loss increased from $49.04 million to $52.89 million.
Among other things, Angie's List Inc also issued its business outlook for the first quarter of 2013.
Shares of Angie's List Inc (NASDAQ: ANGI) grew from $11.50 per share in January 2013 to as high as $28.00 per share in July 2013.
On September 30, 2013, Angie's List Inc disclosed in a filing with the SEC that its Chief Technology Officer Manu Thapar’s employment with the Company has ended effective September 27, 2013. Then on October 23, 2013, Angie's List Inc reported its third quarter 2013 results.
Shares of Angie's List Inc declined from $28 per share in July 2013 to as low as $12.13 per share on November 22, 2013.
Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Angie's List common stock between February 14, 2013 and October 23, 2013.