NEW YORK, April 9, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wechsler Harwood LLP today announced that it has filed a Federal Securities fraud class action on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Siebel Systems, Inc. ("Siebel" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:SEBL) between October 1, 2001 and July 17, 2002, inclusive (the "Class Period").
The action, entitled Fisher v. Siebel Systems, Inc., et al., Case No. not yet assigned, is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and names as defendants, the Company, its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas M. Siebel, its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Kenneth M. Goldman, and its Executive Vice President R. David Schmaier. A copy of the complaint can be obtained from the Court or can be viewed on Wechsler Harwood web site at: www.whesq.com.
The Complaint charges Siebel and certain of the Company's executive officers with violations of federal securities laws. Among other things, plaintiff claims that defendants' omissions and material misrepresentations concerning Siebel's business operations and prospects artificially inflated the Company's stock price, inflicting damages on investors. Siebel develops and sells Web applications software for organizations to manage customer, partner and employee relationships. The complaint alleges that during the Class Period defendants failed to disclose and/or misrepresented Siebel's business and future prospects by overstating customer acceptance of its new product offerings -- including Siebel 7 -- and failed to disclose that "independent" customer satisfaction surveys, which persuaded investors that a vast majority of the Company's customers would make future purchases of Siebel products, actually were conducted by an affiliated company, and thus were unreliable. On July 17, 2002, Siebel announced its second quarter 2002 earnings, reporting a more-than-15% drop in revenues and a 33% shortfall in earnings compared to consensus analyst forecasts, and confirming the continuing slide in demand for Siebel products by slashing revenue forecasts by an additional 25% for the remainder of 2002. The next day, in unusually heavy volume, Siebel share prices plummeted 18%.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired Siebel securities during the Class Period, you may request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff by May 10, 2004. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff". Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Wechsler Harwood, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Wechsler Harwood has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded shareholders. The Wechsler Harwood website (www.whesq.com) has more information about the firm and detailed information regarding this matter. If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:
Wechsler Harwood LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400 Craig Lowther, Wechsler Harwood Shareholder Relations Department: clowther@whesq.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca