Judge Approves AOL Shareholder Settlement

Juan Carlos Perez
IDG News Service
April 11, 2006

A judge approved a settlement of a lawsuit brought against Time Warner by shareholders that alleged that America Online improperly accounted for revenue in the years preceding and following the companies' merger...

Judge Shirley Wohl Kram, from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled that the $2.65 billion settlement of this class action lawsuit is fair, reasonable, and adequate...At the heart of the lawsuit is the allegation that AOL fraudulently accounted for advertising sales for fifteen quarters between 1998 and 2002, inflating revenue by at least $1.7 billion and ultimately harming investors and violating securities laws.

Time Warner announced in August 2005 that it had reached this settlement and established a $3 billion reserve fund for that and other securities litigation...