Company: | News Corporation |
Ticker Symbol: | NWSA |
Class Period: | Mar-30-11 to Jul-11-11 |
Date Filed: | Jul-19-11 |
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: | Sep-17-11 |
Court: | Southern District of New York |
Allegations: |
The defendants include: News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks. The Complaint alleges that defendants knew or were reckless in not knowing that, with the knowledge and consent of their editors, employees 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 that 4,000 people for years.
As has been revealed, News Corp's reporters spared no one from their desire to get a story including the voicemail of a 13-year-old murder victim. 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, 2001 terrorist attacks.
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.
The Complaint alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, by issuing material misrepresentations to the market during the Class Period thereby artificially inflating the price of News Corp securities.
If you acquired the securities of the defendants during the Class Period you may, no later than the Lead Plaintiff Deadline shown above, request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff through counsel of your choice. You may also choose to remain an absent class member. A lead plaintiff must meet certain requirements.