(Reuters) – BlackBerry said on Thursday that it had agreed to pay $ 165 million to settle a more than eight-year-old class action lawsuit brought against it for alleged shareholder fraud by exaggerating the success and profitability of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
According to the agreement, which requires the approval of a judge, the payment will be made to settle claims raised on behalf of those who bought the company’s shares between March 28, 2013 and September 20, 2013.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Canadian company plans to resolve the lawsuit to avoid a lawsuit in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan’s federal court granted a request from the company̵
7;s lawyers and shareholders to postpone their planned trial to negotiate a preliminary settlement.Shareholders accused the company of hiding BlackBerry 10’s real sales opportunities in public statements in 2013, which resulted in an inflated stock price.
Trials that accuse companies of misleading shareholders are common in the United States, but few go to trial.
While the BlackBerry 10 won rave reviews from critics, it never garnered public attention, favoring Android-based smartphones and Apple Inc.’s iPhones, leading to BlackBerry’s decision to stop making phones in 2016.
The company has shifted its focus to cybersecurity and to make embedded operating systems widely used in cars.
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