Pomerantz Named Lead Counsel in Alphabet Investor Suit
On Friday, June 9th, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California named Pomerantz LLP as Lead Counsel on behalf of the plaintiffs in AMI — Government Employees Provident Fund Management Co. Ltd. v. Alphabet Inc. et al., No. 3:23-cv-01186. The suit alleges that Google and its parent company Alphabet misled investors about the nature of its anticompetitive business practices and the potential of those practices to elicit regulatory scrutiny.
Since its founding in 1998, Google has come to permeate nearly every aspect of modern technological life. Gmail is omnipresent and to “Google” something is a general term meaning “to search the internet.” Pomerantz’s suit alleges that Google used that dominance in the field of internet searches, and its related advertising business, to disadvantage web publishers and advertisers who use competing products. According to the suit, Google knew its revenues were unsustainable insofar as they were based on this illicit, anticompetitive behavior, and that these practices exposed it to potential litigation and regulatory enforcement. However, it disclosed none of this material information to investors. In January 2023, the United States Department of Justice, along with the Attorneys General of eight states, filed a lawsuit against Google “for monopolizing multiple digital advertising technology products in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman [Antitrust] Act.” On this news, Alphabet’s Class A shares fell 2.09%, to close at $97.70 per share, while their Class C shares fell 1.98%, to close at $99.21 per share on January 24th, 2023.
Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai, CFO Ruth M. Porat, and senior vice president and chief business officer Philipp Schneider are also named as defendants in Pomerantz’s suit. Pomerantz’s Managing Partner Jeremy Lieberman, along with Partners Jennifer Pafiti and J. Alexander Hood II, and Of Counsel attorneys Orly Guy and Eitan Lavie will represent the Lead Plaintiff and the class in this important matter.