Gordon v. Nielsen Holdings plc et al 1:18-cv-07143 — On August 8, 2018, investors sued Nielsen Holdings plc (“Nielsen” or the “Company”) in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York. The NLSN Lawsuit alleges that plaintiffs acquired Nielsen stock at artificially inflated prices between February 8, 2018 and July 25, 2018 (the “Class Period”). They are now seeking compensation for financial losses incurred upon public revelation of the Company’s alleged misconduct during that time. For more information on the NLSN Class Action Lawsuit, please inquire within. 

Summary of the Allegations

Company Background

Nielsen (NYSE:NLSN) bills itself as a “leading global performance management company.” As such, it says it gives its clients “a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and what they buy and how those choices intersect.”

To that end, the Company classifies its business operations as “Buy” and “Watch” segments.  According to the August 8 Complaint, the former supposedly provides “retail transactional measurement data, consumer behavior information and analytics primarily to businesses in the packaged-goods industry.” Specifically, the complaint states that the Company “track[s] billions of sales transactions per month in retail outlets globally and [its] data is used to measure their sales and market share.” Last year, this segment accounted for 49% of Nielsen’s revenue.

On the other hand, the Company’s “Watch” segment accounted for more than half (51%) of its revenue in 2017. According to the Complaint, this segment “provides viewership and listening data and analytics primarily to the media and advertising industries across the television, radio, print, online, digital, mobile viewing and listening platforms.” In this context, ratings are “the primary metrics used to determine the value of programming and advertising in the U.S. television advertising marketplace.”

Summary of Facts

Nielsen and two of its top officers and/or directors are now accused of deceiving investors by lying and withholding critical information about Nielsen’s business practices and prospects during the Class period.

Specifically, they stand accused of omitting truthful information about the impact of certain regulations on Nielsen’s business and the Company’s reliance on “third-party data” from SEC filings and related material. By knowingly or recklessly doing so, they allegedly caused Nielsen stock to trade at artificially inflated prices during the time in question.

The truth emerged on July 26 2018, when the Company revealed that its revenue and earnings for the second quarter failed to meet expectations. Among other things, the Company blamed the shortfall on “General Data Protection Regulation and changes in the consumer data privacy landscape.” The Company also said its “digital advertising ecosystem saw a disruption in the second quarter as large digital platforms made changes to their offerings to increase security for consumer data.”

A Closer Look…

As alleged in the August 8 Complaint, the Company and/or Individual Defendants repeatedly made false and misleading public statements during the Class Period.

For example, during a February 8, 2018 conference call for analysts and investors, one of the Individual Defendants answered a question about General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) saying in pertinent part: “GDPR, we’ve been focused on this for some time. We have a big team that’s working on it. We’ve been out in front of it. We’re ready. We don’t expect to see any major impact on our business. We still – we’ll still have access to all the data that we’re going to need for our products. So yes, we’re in good shape.”

Then, on an April 26, 2018 conference call for analysts and investors, the Company “reiterated the first quarter 2018 financial results reported in the press release and assured investors that the Company was currently on track to meet year 2018 financial guidance, including $800 million in free cash flow, by the end of 2018.”

Finally, at an industry conference held May 31, 2018, one of the Individual Defendants stated in pertinent part: “For measurement, we still have access to all the data that we need for our measurement products, including our relationship with Facebook.”

Impact of the Alleged Fraud on Nielsen’s Stock Price and Market Capitalization

The following chart illustrates the stock price during the class period:

Actions You May Take

If you have purchased shares during the Class Period, you may join the class action as a lead plaintiff, remain a passive class member, or opt out of this litigation and pursue individual claims that may not be available to the class as a whole.

NOTE: The deadline to file for lead plaintiff in this class action is October 9, 2018. You must file an application to be appointed lead plaintiff prior to this deadline in order to be considered by the Court. Typically, the plaintiff or plaintiffs with the largest losses are appointed lead plaintiff.

In order to identify your potential exposure to the alleged fraud during the time in question, you may wish to perform an analysis of your transactions in Nielsen common stock using court approved loss calculation methods.

Recently Filed Cases

Listed below are recently filed securities class action cases being monitored by us, along with the class period and the deadline to file a motion to be appointed as the Lead Plaintiff in the action.  Please contact us if you would like an LK report for any of these cases:

About Us

Levi & Korsinsky is a leading securities litigation firm with a hard-earned reputation for protecting investors’ rights and recovering losses arising from fraud, mismanagement and corporate abuse.  With thirty attorneys and offices in New York, Connecticut, California and Washington D.C., the firm is able to litigate cases in various jurisdictions in the U.S., England, and in other international jurisdictions.

Levi & Korsinsky provides portfolio monitoring services for high-net worth investors and institutional clients.  Our firm also assists investors in evaluating whether to opt-out of large securities class actions to pursue individual claims.

For additional information about this case or our institutional services, please contact us.