On October 26th, Alibaba announced that it had reached a settlement agreement for the previously disclosed presumed shareholder class action lawsuit, agreeing to pay $433.5 million (approximately RMB 3.08 billion) to settle the lawsuit. The announcement shows that the above settlement does not constitute recognition or determination of any legitimate reasons for the claims in the lawsuit. The company denies any allegations of fault, liability, misconduct, or damage, and the settlement is only reached to avoid further litigation costs and interference.
Alibaba announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with some current and former executives and directors to resolve a shareholder class action lawsuit previously disclosed in public records (Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Securities Litigation, No. 1:20-cv-09568-GBD-JW (S.D.NY.)).
According to the settlement agreement, Alibaba has agreed to pay $433.5 million (approximately RMB 3.08 billion) to settle the aforementioned lawsuit. All defendants will be fully exempt from all claims raised in this lawsuit.
The announcement states that the settlement agreement must meet multiple conditions, including obtaining court approval, and does not constitute any recognition or determination of the substantive value of the claims claimed in the lawsuit. The company denies any allegations of fault, liability, misconduct, or damage, and the settlement is only reached to avoid further litigation costs and interference.
In August of this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that Alibaba Group had completed a three-year rectification and achieved good results.
For Alibaba, this is a new starting point for development. In the future, we will continue to focus on innovation, adhere to compliant operations, increase investment in technology, promote the healthy development of the platform economy, and create more value for society, "Alibaba responded.
According to public information, in April 2021, Alibaba carried out a three-year self-examination and rectification in accordance with the requirements of the State Administration for Market Regulation.
The State Administration for Market Regulation has issued a notice stating that in the past three years, it has strengthened its supervision of Alibaba Group's compliance rectification, conducted in-depth inspections of the implementation of rectification, and commissioned third-party institutions to conduct law enforcement effectiveness evaluations. From the perspective of verification and evaluation, Alibaba Group has comprehensively stopped the "two choice one" monopoly behavior in accordance with the requirements of the "Administrative Penalty Decision" and "Administrative Guidance", strictly regulated its own business behavior, conscientiously implemented the platform's main responsibility, improved the enterprise compliance management system, improved the service level of merchants and consumers on the platform, achieved good results in compliance rectification work, improved the online retail market environment, effectively restored fair competition order, continuously expanded market development space, significantly improved competition vitality between platforms, and continuously optimized the quality of platform economic development and business environment. Next, the State Administration for Market Regulation will guide Alibaba Group to continue regulating its operations, further improving compliance, quality, and efficiency, accelerating innovation driven development, continuously improving service levels, and providing solid guarantees for building a world-class enterprise and enhancing international competitiveness.
Author: Wen Ting