Arbitron to fight class action lawsuit

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Arbitron says it will “defend itself vigorously” against a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of people who bought the company’s stock during a specified time period last year. The lawsuit claims they were hoodwinked by the company’s failure to disclose that it would have to delay PPM implementation.


The lawsuit filed by Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP claims that for the period from July 19, 2007 to November 26, 2007, the day Arbitron announced a delay in the PPM rollout, Arbitron failed to disclose “that the Company’s scheduled implementation of its Portable People Meter ratings service in certain major markets was not performing according to internal expectations and the Company was experiencing significant difficulties such that it would have to delay its implementation.” Arbitron’s stock fell 14.74% the day the PPM delay was announced.

RBR/TVBR observation: You’re not really a public company these days until someone has filed a class action against you by one of the numerous law firms who specialize in investor lawsuits. We note that Arbitron’s stock price is nearly back up to the pre-announcement level, so there wasn’t much money lost if you didn’t sell.