NEW YORK, March 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class actions have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ: TEAM), PLDT Inc. (NYSE: PHI), and Global Payments, Inc. (NYSE: GPN). Stockholders have until the deadlines below to petition the court to serve as lead plaintiff. Additional information about each case can be found at the link provided.
Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ)
Class Period: November 4, 2021 - April 4, 2022 (including all former shareholders of Afterpay securities who acquired unregistered Block, Inc. Class A common stock (and/or corresponding SQ CHESS Depository Interests (“CDI”)) (“Block Shares” or “Square Securities”) in direct exchange for Afterpay shares pursuant to Block’s January 31, 2022 acquisition and stock-for-stock merger with Afterpay)
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: April 3, 2023
The filed complaint alleges that Block made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants did not satisfy the mandatory conditions necessary to exempt them from registration under §3(a)(10) and permit the issuance and sale of unregistered Block Shares; (2) in violation of §§5(a) and (c) of the Securities Act, no registration statement has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or been in effect with respect to these Block Shares issued, solicited, and sold by means of Block's January 31, 2022 acquisition and stock-for-stock merger with Afterpay (the "Merger" or "Acquisition"); (3) in order to push the Acquisition through, defendants failed to comply with §3(a)(10)'s mandatory preconditions in several respects; and (4) defendants' grossly negligent failures deprived the Supreme Court of New South Wales ("NSW Court") of critical information necessary for any genuine appraisal of the Merger's supposed "fairness," and furthermore deprived plaintiff and other Afterpay shareholders of their statutory right to appear and present to the NSW Court the host of serious concerns and material (yet undisclosed) information ahead of the Merger.
For more information on the Block class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/SQ
Atlassian Corporation Plc (NASDAQ: TEAM)
Class Period: August 5, 2022 - November 3, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: April 4, 2023
Atlassian develops and sells collaboration and project-management software that operates both on premises and in the cloud. The Company derives a majority of its revenue from its Jira Software and Confluence software products. The Company generates revenue primarily from license subscriptions both from free users who convert to paying customers when they exceed the cap on free licenses, and from existing paying users who expand their existing subscriptions. In 2020, Atlassian began to transition its clients to the cloud, which has accounted for a rapidly growing portion of the Company’s revenues.
In the spring and summer of 2022, as macroeconomic conditions deteriorated and Atlassian’s competitors lowered their revenue guidance, Defendants remained steadfast that these conditions were not having a material impact on the Company. Indeed, after markets closed on August 4, 2022, Defendant Co-Chief Executive Officer Scott Farquhar reiterated the Company’s guidance of 50% year-on-year cloud growth for fiscal years 2023 and 2024. In a call with analysts that day, more than a month into the Company’s fiscal first quarter of 2023, Defendant and Chief Revenue Officer Cameron Deatsch assured investors the Company was “being exceedingly vigilant watching all stages of our funnel” and that “we have yet to see any specific trend . . . that gives us pause or worry to date.” According to CRO Deatsch, the “demand for collaboration products continue[s] to be strong.”
Undisclosed to investors, throughout the Class Period, Atlassian overstated its financial guidance by concealing trends of slowing conversions from free users to paying customers and slowing growth in paying-user expansion. As a result, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects during the Class Period were materially false and /or misleading.
Investors only learned the truth about the Company’s vulnerability to macroeconomic conditions and weakened outlook after the financial markets closed on November 3, 2022. That afternoon, Atlassian issued a letter to shareholders and held a conference call with analysts to discuss its financial results for the fiscal first quarter of 2023 ended September 30, 2022. In the letter to shareholders, filed as an Exhibit to a Current Report on Form 8-K, the Defendants revealed that “[b]ased on the macro headwinds,” the Company was “lowering our Cloud revenue growth outlook to a range of approximately 40% to 45% year-over-year” for fiscal year 2023. In describing the “macro impacts” on the Company, the letter to shareholders revealed that (1) the Company “saw a decrease in the rate of Free instances converting to paid plans,” calling it a “trend [that] became more pronounced” in the quarter and (2) the Company experienced “a slowing in the rate of paid user growth from existing customers.”
In response to these revelations, the price of Atlassian stock declined almost 29% the following trading day, from a closing price of $174.17 per share on November 3, 2022 to a closing price of $123.73 per share on November 4, 2022. More than $7 billion in shareholder value evaporated. Analysts reported being “surprised by the magnitude of the slowdown” as Defendants “delivered unusually disappointing” results.
As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in market value of the Company’s common stock when the truth was disclosed, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages.
For more information on the Atlassian class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/TEAM
PLDT Inc. (NYSE: PHI)
Class Period: January 1, 2019 - December 19, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: April 7, 2023
According to the Complaint, the Company made false and misleading statements to the market. PLDT suffered from capital spending budget overruns. The Company failed to properly manage weaknesses that resulted in budget overruns. Based on these facts, the Company’s public statements were false and materially misleading throughout the class period. When the market learned the truth about PLDT, investors suffered damages.
For more information on the PLDT class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/PHI
Global Payments, Inc. (NYSE: GPN)
Class Period: October 31, 2019 - October 18, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: April 9, 2023
Global Payments is a Georgia company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Global Payments is a leading payments technology company that delivers innovative software and services to merchants and financial institutions worldwide. Global Payments is a Fortune 500 company and is a member of the S&P 500. One of Global Payments’ wholly owned subsidiaries is Active Network, which provides third-party registration and payment processing services to consumers signing up to participate in events. Throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (a) Active Network used deceptive and abusive acts and practices to dupe its customers into enrolling into Active Network’s own discount club; (b) since July 2011, Active Network, and by extension, Global Payments, was aware of such unauthorized conduct and that it was violating relevant regulations and laws aimed at protecting its consumers; (c) since 2011, Global Payments failed to properly monitor its subsidiary from engaging in such unlawful conduct, detect and stop the misconduct, and identify and remediate harmed consumers; (d) all the foregoing subjected the Company to a foreseeable risk of heightened regulatory scrutiny or investigation; (e) Global Payments’ revenues were in part the product of Active Network’s unlawful conduct and thus unsustainable; and (f) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On October 18, 2022, the truth about Global Payments’ practices was disclosed when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a Complaint against Active Network for illegally cramming consumers with membership fees.
On this news, the price of Global Payments’ stock fell precipitously and closed at $113.67 on October 18, 2022.
As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s securities, Plaintiff and other Class members have suffered significant losses and damages.
For more information on the Global Payments class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/GPN
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York, California, and South Carolina. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
