Alibaba has agreed to pay $433.5 million to settle a U.S. class-action lawsuit alleging monopolistic practices, although the company denies any wrongdoing.
It said the decision to settle aims to avoid the costs and disruptions associated with ongoing litigation, according to Reuters.
The proposed settlement, which requires approval from U.S. District Judge George Daniels, addresses a lawsuit filed in 2020 that accused Alibaba of violating anti-monopoly laws by forcing merchants to use only one distribution platform.
The settlement compensates investors in Alibaba’s American depositary shares from November 13, 2019, to December 23, 2020, for losses incurred when the company’s misleading statements led to a decline in stock price.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs in court papers called the proposed deal “an exceptional result,” saying it vastly exceeded the median recovery in securities class actions where the investor losses exceeded $10 billion.
The Alibaba investors could have sought a maximum damages award of $11.63 billion if they had continued with the litigation.
