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Shareholders File Class-Action Lawsuit Against Nvidia

Paul Lilly — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:20:52 -0500

It looks as though 8M-series notebook owners aren't the only ones feeling slighted by Nvidia, who in the past several month has taken a PR hit due to an "abnormal failure rate" in what the company still claims is a limited batch of notebook GPUs. Media reports have questioned exactly how limited the problem remains, and there's even speculation that the faulty parts may apply to both the newer 9M-series of GPUs and desktop parts as well.

Now Nvidia must fight a new battle, this one in court. The graphics company has been hit with a securities fraud class action lawsuit, which covers all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired common stock of Nvidia between November 8, 2007, and July 2, 2008.

The complaint alleges Nvidia violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, accusing the company of making a series of misrepresentations and omissions that actively concealed and failed to disclose the unusually high failure rates of its mobile GPUs, along with the impact the supposed defects would have on Nvidia's financial condition. Nvidia in July announced it would take a one-time hit of $150 to $200 million to cover warranty and repair costs associated with the failures, and the company's stock tumbled downwards in after-hours trading following the announcement.

Does the lawsuit have merit?

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U.S Justice Department Spares Steve Jobs et al in Stock Backdating Case

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:20:40 -0500

Earlier this month, we reported that disgruntled Apple shareholders had filed a class-action suit against Steve Jobs and other Apple bigwigs. They had alleged that the defendants including Steve Jobs were complicit in the backdating of stocks from 1997 till 2001 and had benefited from it wrongfully - at the expense of poor shareholders.

But the U.S Justice Department has decided against pursuing the allegations against Jobs and Co. Previously, an internal probe at Apple and an SEC inquest had both given a clean chit to Steve Jobs in this matter.

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Steve Jobs and Other Apple Honchos Face Serious Fraud Charges

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:21:32 -0500

The ghosts from Apple’s past have returned to haunt the company. A couple of years ago, an internal inquest was launched into the alleged backdating of stock options grants at Apple made between 1997 and 2001. The investigation uncovered several irregularities - and forgeries - that eventually prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission to step in.

Although SEC filed charges against then Apple CFO Fred D. Anderson and general counsel Nancy R. Heinen, the company’s top brass including Steve Jobs were given the clean chit and lauded for their cooperation in the investigation.

However, disgruntled Apple stockholders Martin Vogel and Kenneth Mahoney believe there is more to the stock-option-backdating story than what met SEC’ keen eye. a class-action suit against Apple CEO Steve Jobs, already beleaguered Anderson and Heinen, and four others from the Board of Directors.

The plaintiffs alleged that Apple’s blue-eyed boy Steve Jobs was the beneficiary of one such backdated stock option and profited to the tune of $20 million, and that Apple’s account department didn’t deem it necessary to record this spending in their books.

Also up for legal debate will be the catastrophic decline in Apple stocks – that wiped $7 billion in share value within two weeks – after Apple’s announcement of the internal investigation and whether shareholders deserve to be redressed for it.

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