Simpson Thacher Secures Complete Dismissal for Silver Lake in Endeavor Securities Suit
On August 11, 2026, Simpson Thacher secured a complete dismissal on behalf of Silver Lake in a securities class action arising from its take private of Endeavor Group after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted defendants' motion for reconsideration and dismissed the action in its entirety. The decision transformed an earlier partial win into a complete dismissal, highlighting the central challenge of loss causation in securities litigation challenging merger disclosures.
The lawsuit, filed by an Endeavor stockholder, alleged that Defendants made misrepresentations regarding the fairness of the merger and that investors were harmed when they sold shares at allegedly artificially deflated prices before the transaction closed, thereby forfeiting appraisal rights under Delaware law. The complaint asserted claims under Sections 10(b), 13(e) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, SEC Rules 10b-5(a)-(c), and Rule 13e-3. The court previously dismissed Plaintiff's primary theory that Endeavor should have brought forward the fairness opinion related to Silver Lake's buyout at a 57% premium to Endeavor's unaffected price. The court has now held that Plaintiff failed to plausibly connect the remaining claimed to its claimed losses.
The Simpson Thacher team was led by Partners Steve Blake and Laura Lin and also included Partner Alison Sher and Associates Sarah Forbes, Wendy Wu, Samantha Jumper, Jared Tay and Gabriel Bastien.