Amazon.com and three of its directors are being sued in the US by
shareholders who allege that the e-tail bellwether unlawfully
inflated its stock prices by disseminating false and misleading
financial information.
The series of lawsuits filed this week follow another
shareholder suit against Amazon.com earlier this month that alleged
failure by the company to disclose losses being incurred by its
Commerce Network Partners.
Purchasers of Amazon.com stock between 2nd February 2000 and 9th
March 2001 are being invited to join one of three similar actions,
each represented by a different US law firm, each seeking class
action status.
The action being represented by Seattle-based firm Keller
Rohrback L.L.P alleges that, during the 13 month period, Amazon.com
and certain of its officers and directors – Jeff Bezos, Joseph
Galli, Jr., and Warren Jenson - violated federal securities laws by
disseminating to the investing public false and misleading
financial statements in filings and press releases concerning the
company's revenues, investments in joint ventures, earnings, cash
flow as well as its overall financial condition and future
prospects.
In particular, the lawsuit says that those sued touted the
company's investments in the Amazon Commerce Network Partners and
the purported high margin revenue stream created by such ventures.
In fact, it alleges, the investments were losing millions of
dollars, which was not disclosed to investors.
The lawsuit also claims that founder and CEO Jeff Bezos sold
more than one million shares of his Amazon.com shares at
artificially inflated prices, for proceeds of more than $30
million.
