Twitter Investors Seek Nod for $809.5 Million User Metrics Deal

Twitter Inc. and investors who say it misled them about user growth and engagement asked a federal judge in California for permission to move forward with an $809.5 million settlement.

The cash deal, reached “on the literal eve of trial,” will likely rank among the 20 largest securities fraud class action settlements to date, according to a memo the social media platform’s investors filed as part of their bid for preliminary settlement approval in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The settlement represents about 24% to 30% of estimated maximum damages, which “falls significantly above the typical range of approvals,” the investors said. Twitter’s board in 2020 separately agreed to pay $47 million to resolve related shareholder derivative suits.

The deal covers anyone who acquired the company’s publicly traded common stock from Feb. 6, 2015, through and including July 28, 2015, and lost money as a result. Judge Jon S. Tigar certified the investor class in 2018.

Co-class counsel Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and Motley Rice LLC plan to seek as much as 22.5% of the settlement fund—more than $182.1 million—as attorneys’ fees. The firms will also seek no more than $4 million as reimbursement of litigation expenses, according to the Jan. 7 investor memo.

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Cooley LLP represent Twitter, which denies any wrongdoing.

The case is In re Twitter Inc. Sec. Litig., N.D. Cal., No. 4:16-cv-05314, preliminary settlement approval motion filed 1/7/22.