NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wechsler Harwood LLP today announced that it has filed a Federal Securities fraud class action suit on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of IAC/InteractiveCorp ("IAC" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:IACI) between March 19, 2003 and August 4, 2004, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period").
The action, entitled Berman v. IAC/InterActiveCorp., et al., Case No. 04-cv-07899, is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and names as defendants, the Company, its Chief Executive Offer, and Chairman, Barry Diller, its Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Dara Khosrowshahi, its Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Chief of Business Operations, Julius Genachowski, its Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Expedia and director of IAC, Richard N. Barton, and its Vice Chairman of the IAC Board of Directors, Victor A. Kaufman. A copy of the complaint can be obtained from the Court or can be viewed on Wechsler Harwood web site at: www.whesq.com.
The complaint alleges that defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. Specifically, the complaint alleges that Defendants began to artificially inflate IAC's share price in order to decrease the amount of stock IAC would eventually issue to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Expedia and Hotels.com it did not already own in order to eliminate further dilution from defendants own interests in IAC. Moreover, the complaint alleges that Defendants' statements made in connection with the announcement of the acquisitions of Expedia, Hotels.com and LendingTree.com and with its financial reports were false and misleading because they did not disclose that some of the Company's on-line customers were being double billed, that some hotel chains were threatening to stop participating due to slow payment by the Company, that web customers were being charged rates exceeding the hotel's published public prices, that the Company's web sites indicated rooms were sold out when they actually were not.
On August 4, 2004, IAC issued its second quarter 2004 earnings that were below expectations and lowered its forward looking guidance. The reason cited for the shortfall was that the Company was being provided less rooms and airline seats to sell. Shares reacted negatively to this announcement, falling from $27.03 per share to $22.80, representing a decline of 15.6% on volume of nearly 90 million shares.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than November 19, 2004 move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Wechsler Harwood, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action
Wechsler Harwood has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded shareholders. The Wechsler Harwood website (www.whesq.com) has more information about the firm and detailed information regarding this matter. If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:
Wechsler Harwood LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400