Nielsen Faces Shareholder Lawsuit Over GDPR Statements

Nielsen shareholder Arun Bhattacharya is suing the firm, its CEO and CFO over the company's alleged misleading statements regarding its readiness for the recently implemented GDPR privacy laws.

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) governs the general use and privacy of EU citizens' data. According to online legal news site: www.strategiclegal.com , this case is significant because the plaintiff's claims do not allege violations of the regulation, but inaccurate statements about readiness for it. The complaint says that from February to July 2018, Nielsen and its CEO and CFO intentionally made false and misleading statements regarding the potential impact of the new law on the company, the state of its preparations, and specifically whether GDPR would affect Nielsen's access to the third-party data on which it relies.

In addition, Bhattacharya alleges that despite Nielsen's assurances that it was ready, the firm blamed GDPR for missing its 2018 financial estimates: 'Our results are significantly below our expectations as revenues were impacted by GDPR and changes to the consumer data privacy landscape. We have several hundred clients and data partners in this space, and market changes have been disruptive', Nielsen said in a second quarter investor conference call.

Bhattacharya points to the fall in Nielsen's share price by more than a quarter on July 16th this year (from a high of $34 a share to $22.11), with issue of its earnings report. He is looking to represent investors who bought stock before the release, and states: 'The company and the individual defendants are liable as participants in a fraudulent scheme and course of business that operated as a fraud or deceit on purchasers of Nielsen common stock by disseminating materially false and misleading statements and/or concealing material adverse facts'.

This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Web site: www.nielsen.com .