Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit Against Twitter, Inc.

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Sep 16, 2016, 10:00 ET

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP ("Robbins Geller") (http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/twitter/) today announced that a class action has been commenced on behalf of purchasers of Twitter, Inc. ("Twitter") (NYSE:TWTR) common stock during the period between February 6, 2015 and July 28, 2015 (the "Class Period"). This action was filed in the Northern District of California and is captioned Shenwick v. Twitter, Inc., et al., No. 3:16-cv-5314.

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff's counsel, Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at [email protected]. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/twitter/. 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 charges Twitter and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Twitter is a global platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time, where any user can create a Tweet and any user can follow other users. The Company's main source of revenue is advertising. Because advertising revenue is driven by the total number of users on the platform and, equally as important, the level of engagement of such users, the Company and analysts have focused closely on metrics measuring total users and user engagement. Twitter reported two primary user metrics: Monthly Active Users or "MAUs" (a measure of the total user base) and timeline views (a measure of user engagement). Prior to the beginning of the Class Period, Twitter announced that it would discontinue reporting its primary user engagement metric, timeline views, stating the reason for the change was that the metric was an unrepresentative measure of user engagement and no longer reflective of Twitter's business.

The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements and/or omitted adverse information about the Company's business and prospects. Specifically, the complaint alleges defendants concealed adverse facts they knew or deliberately disregarded, including that by early 2015, daily active users ("DAUs") had replaced the timeline views metric as the primary user engagement metric tracked internally by Twitter management and that the trend in user engagement growth (i.e., DAUs) was flat or declining. In addition, defendants concealed that new product initiatives were not having a meaningful impact on MAUs or user engagement, that Twitter's stated "acceleration [in MAU growth]" was the result of low-quality MAU growth, and that defendants lacked a basis for their previously issued projections of approximately 20% MAU growth and 550 million MAUs in the immediate term. As a result of defendants' false statements and/or omissions, Twitter stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, reaching a high of $52.87 per share.

On April 28, 2015, Twitter released its first quarter 2015 financial results and lowered its full year 2015 revenue forecast. In addition, the Company reported that Twitter's MAUs only increased 5% over the prior quarter. As a result of this news, the price of Twitter stock fell $9.39 per share, or 18%, to close at $42.27 per share on April 28, 2015, and continued its decline the following day, falling another $3.78 per share, or nearly 9%, to close at $38.49 per share on volume of over 120 million shares.

Then, on July 28, 2015, after the market closed, Twitter announced its second quarter 2015 financial results and reported that Twitter's MAUs had increased by only 2 million users over the prior quarter, representing growth of less than 1%. As a result of this news, the price of Twitter stock declined $5.30 per share, or nearly 15%, to close at $31.24 per share on July 29, 2015 on volume of nearly 93 million shares.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Twitter common stock during the Class Period (the "Class"). The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.

Robbins Geller is widely recognized as one of the leading law firms advising U.S. and international institutional investors in securities litigation and portfolio monitoring. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history and was ranked first in both total amount recovered for investors and number of securities class action recoveries in ISS's SCAS Top 50 Report for the last two years. Robbins Geller attorneys have shaped the law in the areas of securities litigation and shareholder rights and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of the Firm's clients. Robbins Geller not only secures recoveries for defrauded investors, it also strives to implement corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Please visit rgrdlaw.com/cases/twitter/ for more information.

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