A federal appeals court upheld a lower courts ruling to throw out a lawsuit claiming that Acxiom Corp. and a large shareholder in 1999 improperly sold $146 million in stock just prior to questions being raised about accounting practices.
In a split decision, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis said Acxiom and the Pritzker Foundation did nothing wrong when selling 5.4 million shares of Acxiom stock July 23, 1999, according to news reports.
Shareholders filed suit claiming that just prior to the stock sale, Acxiom improperly inflated earnings by reversing $2.3 million in benefit accruals after its acquisition of another company.
The lawsuit also said that Little Rock, AR-based Acxiom failed to disclose that a new long-term contract with its largest customer, Allstate Insurance, would result in lower prices.
Network
