Tableau Software, Investors Win First OK of $95 Million Deal

Tableau Software Inc. and its investors can move forward with a $95 million settlement resolving allegations the company made misleading statements after a federal judge in New York gave the deal preliminary approval.

The data visualization software company’s investors accused it of misleading them about its financial performance, business prospects, and operations. The deal is fair, adequate, and “falls within a range of reasonableness warranting” approval, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.

Judge John G. Koeltl in 2020 certified a class made up of everyone who acquired Tableau Class A common stock from Feb. 5, 2015, through Feb. 4, 2016, inclusive, with some exceptions for those with close ties to the company, according to the investors’ April memo in support of their preliminary settlement approval motion. The settlement class isn’t “substantively different,” Koeltl’s order said.

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, lead counsel to the investors, plans to ask for no more than 28% of the settlement—$26.6 million—in attorneys’ fees. The firm will also seek up to $1.5 million in reimbursement for litigation expenses, the investor memo said.

Koeltl’s May 7 written order followed a May 4 conference.

Cooley LLP represents Tableau, which didn’t admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

The case is Scheufele v. Tableau Software Inc., S.D.N.Y., No. 1:17-cv-05753, preliminary settlement approval order 5/7/21.