NEW YORK, Sept. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class actions have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd. (NYSE: DDL), Coupang, Inc. (NYSE: CPNG), Latch, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTCH), and Azure Power Global Limited (NYSE: AZRE). Stockholders have until the deadlines below to petition the court to serve as lead plaintiff. Additional information about each case can be found at the link provided.
Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd. (NYSE: DDL)
Class Period: Pursuant to the Company’s June 29, 2021 IPO
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 24, 2022
Dingdong purports to be a leading and the fastest growing on-demand e-commerce company in China. Dingdong conducted its IPO in New York, and its ADS are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the ticker symbol “DDL.”
In June 2021, as part of Dingdong’s IPO, Defendants issued approximately 4.07 million ADS to the investing public at $23.50 per ADS, all pursuant to the Registration Statement.
According to the Registration Statement, Dingdong’s mission is to “make fresh groceries as available as running water to ever household.” To achieve this end, Dingdong has purportedly “embraced a user-centric philosophy” that is committed to “directly providing users and householders… fresh produce, mean and seafood and other daily necessities through a convenient and excellent shopping experience supported by an extensive self-operated frontline fulfillment grid [emphasis added].” Critically, Dingdong differentiates itself from its competitors by claiming to “procure… products primarily form direct upstream sources such as farms and cooperatives,” “apply stringent quality control across [its] entire supply chain to ensure product quality to [its] users,” and rely on its “frontline fulfillment grid and robust, digitalized fulfillment capabilities… [to] deliver… orders within 30 minutes [emphasis added].”
Unbeknownst to prospective investors, however, the Registration Statement misrepresented Dingdong’s commitment to ensuring the safety and quality of the food it distributes to the market. In fact, Dingdong was actively flouting its food safety responsibilities, selling, for example, dead fish to customers while marketing it as live fish and recycling vegetables that were past their sell-by date. In other words, Dingdong was no better at providing or assuring access to “fresh” groceries than the supermarkets, traditional Chinese wet markets, or traditional e-commerce platforms it repeatedly claimed to be displacing. The foregoing conduct subjected Dingdong to increased risk of regulatory and/or governmental scrutiny and enforcement, all of which, once revealed, were likely to (and did) negatively impact Dingdong’s business, operations, and reputation. By omitting these facts, ADS purchasers were unable to adequately assess the value of the shares offered in connection with the IPO, and thus purchased their ADS without material information and to their detriment.
According to the Complaint, the Company’s public statements throughout the IPO period were false and materially misleading. When the market learned the truth about Dingdong, investors suffered damages.
For more information on the Dingdong class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/DDL
Coupang, Inc. (NYSE: CPNG)
Class Period: Pursuant to the Company’s March 11, 2021 IPO
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 25, 2022
On or around March 11, 2021, Coupang conducted its initial public offering (“IPO”), and the company sold 130 million shares for $35.00.
Coupang reported that its annual Total Revenue rose from $11.96 billion in 2020 to over $18.4 billion in 2021, and that its Net Loss increased from $474.89 million in 2020 to over $1.54 billion in 2021.
Since the IPO, Coupang shares have declined to as low as $10.51 per share on June 13, 2022.
The lawsuit focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (1) Coupang was engaged in improper anti-competitive practices with its suppliers and other third parties in violation of applicable regulations, including (a) pressuring suppliers to raise prices of products on competing e-commerce platforms to ensure Coupang’s prices would be more competitive; (b) coercing suppliers into purchasing advertisements that would benefit Coupang financially; (c) forcing suppliers to shoulder all expenses from sales promotions; and (d) requesting wholesale rebates from suppliers without specifying any terms relating to rebate programs, all of which served to artificially maintain Coupang’s lower prices and artificially inflate Coupang’s historical revenues and market share; (2) Coupang had improperly adjusted search algorithms and manipulated product reviews on its marketplace platform to prioritize its own private-label branded products over those of other sellers and merchants, to the detriment of consumers, merchants, and suppliers; (3) unbeknownst to its Rocket WOW members, Coupang was selling products to non-member customers at lower prices than those offered to its Rocket WOW members; (4) Coupang subjected its workforce to extreme, unsafe, and unhealthy working conditions; (5) all of the above illicit practices exposed Coupang to a heightened , but undisclosed, risk of reputational and regulatory scrutiny that would harm Coupang’s critical relationships with consumers, merchants, suppliers, and the workforce; and (6) Coupang’s lower prices, historical revenues, competitive advantages, and growing market share were the result of systemic, improper, unethical, and/or illegal practices, and, thus, unsustainable.
For more information on the Coupang class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/CPNG
Latch, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTCH)
Class Period: May 31, 2021 – August 25, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 31, 2022
On August 25, 2022, after the market closed, Latch revealed that it would restate financial statements for 2021 and the first quarter of 2022 due to revenue recognition errors related to the sale of hardware devices. Specifically, the Company stated that “certain revenue recognition errors occurred as a result of unreported sales arrangements due to sales activity that was inconsistent with the Company’s internal controls and procedures.”
On this news, Latch’s stock fell $0.13, or 12.2%, to close at $0.95 per share on August 26, 2022, on unusually heavy trading volume.
The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that there were unreported sales arrangements related to hardware devices; (2) that, as a result, the Company had improperly recognized revenue throughout fiscal 2021 and first quarter 2022; (3) that there were material weaknesses in Latch’s internal control over financial reporting related to revenue recognition; (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, Latch would restate financial statements for fiscal 2021 and first quarter 2022; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Latch class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/LTCH
Azure Power Global Limited (NYSE: AZRE)
Class Period: June 15, 2021 – August 26, 2022
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 31, 2022
On August 29, 2022, Azure announced the resignation of its CEO, less than two months after his appointment. The Company also disclosed that it had “received a whistleblower complaint in May 2022 alleging potential procedural irregularities and misconduct by certain employees at a plant belonging to one of its subsidiaries.” During the Company’s review of these allegations, Azure “discovered deviations from safety and quality norms” and “also identified evidence of manipulation of project data and information by certain employees.”
On this news, the Company’s stock fell $4.61, or 44%, to close at $5.85 per share on August 29, 2022, on unusually heavy trading volume.
The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that there were procedural irregularities, including deviations from safety and quality standards, at one of Azure’s plants; (2) that certain project data was manipulated; (3) that, as a result of the foregoing, the Company’s internal controls and procedures were not effective; (4) that Azure had received a credible whistleblower report alleging such misconduct; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants’ positive statements about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Azure class action go to: https://bespc.com/cases/AZRE
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York, California, and South Carolina. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Contact Information:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
(212) 355-4648
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
