Lawsuit Overview
January 21, 2016 - The lead plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal.
November 24, 2015 - The court granted defendants' motion to dismiss without leave to amend.
June 26, 2015 - Defendants filed a motion to dismiss.
May 22, 2015 - The lead plaintiff filed another amended consolidated complaint.
April 21, 2015 - The court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss with leave to amend.
February 6, 2015 - Defendants filed a motion to dismiss.
January 5, 2015 - The lead plaintiff filed an amended consolidated complaint.
November 17, 2014 - Lead plaintiff and lead counsel were appointed and all cases were consolidated.
October 6, 2014 - Lead plaintiff motions were filed.
August 25, 2014 - Another investor in shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE: YELP) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Yelp Inc in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between October 29, 2013 and April 3, 2014.
According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Yelp Inc (NYSE: YELP) common shares between October 29, 2013 and April 3, 2014, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws.
More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between October 29, 2013 and April 3, 2014 defendants made allegedly materially false and misleading statements concerning Yelp Inc’s true business and financial condition, including but not limited to the true nature of the so-called firsthand experiences and reviews appearing on Yelp Inc’s website, the robustness of its processes and algorithms purportedly designed to screen unreliable reviews, and Yelp Inc's forecasted financial growth prospects and the extent to which they were reliant upon undisclosed business practices, including but not limited to requiring business customers to pay to suppress negative reviews.
The plaintiff alleges that defendants' statements between October 29, 2013 and April 3, 2014 caused Yelp Inc’s stock to trade at artificially inflated prices, reaching a high of over $98.00 per share on March 4, 2014, and allowed Yelp Inc insiders to sell more than 1.16 million shares of Yelp stock at prices as high as $98.99 per share for insider trading proceeds of more than $81.5 million.
Yelp Inc reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from $137.57 million in 2012 to $232.99 million in 2013 and that its respective Net Loss declined from $19.11 million in 2012 to $10.07 million in 2013. Shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE: YELP) grew from $17.72 per share in late 2012 to as high as $98.04 per share in March 2014.
On April 2, an article stated that according to a spokesperson for Yelp Inc the company receives roughly six subpoenas monthly, some of which seek the names of anonymous users. On the same day the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) disclosed on its website that it received 2,046 complaints about Yelp Inc from 2008 through March 4 of this year, noting that its disclosure was part of a Freedom of Information Act request. Shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE: YELP) declined from $81.24 per share on April 2, 2014, to $64.92 per share on April 4, 2014 and declined to as low as $52.13 per share on May 6, 2014.
On August 8, 2014, NYSE: YELP shares closed at $68.0 per share.
August 6, 2014 - An investor in shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE: YELP) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Yelp Inc in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between October 29, 2013 and April 3, 2014.