GlobeNewswire Inc | Jan 14, 2021 08:00AM EST

January 14, 2021

BOSTON, Jan. 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On November 18, 2020, analyst Muddy Waters announced that it would short JOYY (NASDAQ: YY), calling the Company a multibillion-dollar fraud. Muddy Waters wrote that YYs component businesses are a fraction of the size it reports, and that the companys reported user metrics, revenues, and cash balances are predominantly fraudulent. The market was stunned by this report, and as a result, shares of JOYY common stock fell over 26% in just a few hours.

Muddy Waters report continued: While trawling the sewers of the worlds capital markets over the past 10 years, irony has never been in short supply. And yet, nothing could prepare us for the surreality of Baidu announcing its intention to buy YY Live from JOYY, which happened just as we were preparing to reveal that our year-long investigation shows YY Live is about 90% fraudulent. It was clear to us from early on that YY Live was almost entirely fake.

A lawsuit alleging violations of federal securities laws has been filed against JOYY and certain of its officers and directors. The lawsuit asserts that JOYY dramatically overstated its revenues from live streaming sources. It further alleges that at any given time, the majority of JOYYs users were bots, which JOYY used to effect a roundtripping scheme that manufactured the false appearance of revenues. Moreover, the lawsuit asserts that JOYYs acquisition of Bigo was largely contrived to benefit corporate insiders. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and is captioned Hershewe v. JOYY Inc., et al., No. 20-cv-10611 (C.D. Cal.).

If you purchased or acquired shares of JOYY between April 28, 2016 and November 18, 2020 and have questions about your legal rights or possess information relevant to this matter, please contact Block & Leviton attorneys at (617) 398-5600, via email at cases@blockleviton.com, or at https://www.blockleviton.com/cases/joyy. The deadline to move the Court to be appointed lead plaintiff is January 19, 2021.

Block & Leviton LLP is a firm dedicated to representing investors and maintaining the integrity of the countrys financial markets. The firm represents many of the nations largest institutional investors as well as individual investors in securities litigation throughout the United States. The firms lawyers have recovered billions of dollars for its clients.

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CONTACT:BLOCK & LEVITON LLP260 Franklin St., Suite 1860Boston, MA 02110Phone: (617) 398-5600Email: cases@blockleviton.comSOURCE: Block & Leviton LLPwww.blockleviton.com