Simpson Thacher Wins Dismissal in Securities Class Action Suit for Qutoutiao
On February 5, 2026, Simpson Thacher won the dismissal for the second time on behalf of client Qutoutiao Inc. (“Qutoutiao”), a Chinese news-aggregation app, of a putative federal securities class action suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The action names Qutoutiao, its directors, officers, and corporate underwriters as defendants, alleging that, in connection with Qutoutiao’s September 2018 IPO and March 2019 secondary public offering, Qutoutiao failed to disclose that most of its revenues and revenue growth were derived from illegal advertisements, that revenues reported to the SEC were inflated, and that Qutoutiao engaged in undisclosed related-party transactions. In dismissing the suit in its entirety and with prejudice, Judge Victor Marrero agreed with the Firm’s arguments that Qutoutiao fully and fairly disclosed the risks about illegal advertisement and related-party transactions even under the more lenient standard of review, finding that Qutoutiao made no false or misleading statements. The Court also held that Plaintiff did not have statutory standing to bring any claim under Section 12(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
The Firm previously won the dismissal in 2023, when a New York federal judge found that Plaintiff failed to plead both Exchange Act and Securities Act claims. Plaintiff appealed only the ruling on the Securities Act claims, and the Second Circuit remanded the case in 2024, directing the district court to apply a lower negligence standard of review.
The Simpson Thacher team included George Wang, Camille Boler, Shuhao Fan and Noah Huffman.