Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP Files Class Action Suit Against Yahoo! Inc.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (“Lerach Coughlin”) (http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/yahoo/) today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of purchasers of Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo!”) (NASDAQ:YHOO) publicly traded securities during the period between April 8, 2004 and July 18, 2006 (the “Class Period”).

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, William Lerach or Darren Robbins of Lerach Coughlin at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at wsl@lerachlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.lerachlaw.com/cases/yahoo/. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges Yahoo! and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Yahoo! is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide.

The complaint alleges that Yahoo!’s stock rose precipitously on defendants’ positive statements concerning Yahoo!’s sales growth, record reported revenues and earnings and strong business fundamentals, which defendants stated would provide further stability and growth, reaching a Class Period high of over $43 per share on January 6, 2006. However, concealed from investors was the fact that due to operational deficiencies in its ad technology, Yahoo! was rapidly losing market share to Google and other search engines and Web destinations that would significantly undermine its revenues, earnings and value.

On July 19, 2006, the Company’s stock price fell precipitously by 22% on heavy volume after the Company announced second quarter 2006 financial results that were lower than investors had been led to expect and analysts downgraded Yahoo!’s stock, erasing billions of dollars in market capitalization.

According to the complaint, defendants’ Class Period statements describing Yahoo!’s business model, financial results and continued sales and earnings growth potential were false and misleading as: (a) Yahoo! generated fraudulent revenue by deliberately misleading Internet advertising business customers to induce these customers to buy Yahoo! advertising products through deceptive means; (b) Yahoo! made false, misleading, and deceptive representations regarding its advertising technology and products to investors and potential investors, industry analysts, and customers to increase sales and stock prices; (c) Yahoo!’s false, deceptive, and misleading representations were material in that they had a natural tendency to influence, or were capable of influencing, purchasing decisions, and they related to the essential characteristics, quality, and/or nature of competing products and commercial activities, including relevance, potential click-throughs and quality; (d) Yahoo!’s advertising technology was operationally defective, causing its own advertising offerings to substantially under-perform those of its rivals; (e) whereas Yahoo!’s rivals were paying high-traffic vendors to route traffic through their Web sites, Yahoo! was charging large vendors for access and was dependent on that revenue to make its revenue targets, making Yahoo!’s Web site a less desirable location for vendors to drive traffic to; and (f) Yahoo! was losing market share to Google and other Internet search providers.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of all purchasers of Yahoo! publicly traded securities during the Class Period (the “Class”). The plaintiff is represented by Lerach Coughlin, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.

Lerach Coughlin, a 180-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations. Lerach Coughlin lawyers have been responsible for more than $20 billion in aggregate recoveries. The Lerach Coughlin Web site (http://www.lerachlaw.com) has more information about the firm.