Exhibit 99.1
Altaba Announces Liquidating Distribution of $1.10 Per Share
NEW YORK, July 31, 2024—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Altaba Inc. (“Altaba” or the “Fund”) today announced that the Board approved a liquidating distribution of $1.10 per share of the Fund’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, or $571,462,502 in the aggregate (the “Liquidating Distribution”), which will be payable on August 13, 2024.
As previously announced, at a special meeting of stockholders held on June 27, 2019, stockholders of the Fund approved a Plan of Complete Liquidation and Dissolution (the “Plan”), pursuant to which, the Fund filed a certificate of dissolution with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware to dissolve the Fund on October 4, 2019.
On May 28, 2020, as part of the Fund’s court-supervised wind-up proceedings pursuant to Sections 280 and 281(a) of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”) pending before the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware (the “Chancery Court”), the Fund filed a verified petition for determinations pursuant to Section 280 of the DGCL (the “Chancery Action”).
On June 18, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (the “DOJ”), on behalf of the United States Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), filed a Notice of Removal in the Chancery Court removing claims of the IRS in the Chancery Action to the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (the “District of Delaware”). The Fund, together with the DOJ, filed with the District of Delaware a Joint Motion Regarding Claims Raised by Claimant the Internal Revenue Service, following which the District of Delaware entered an order on October 26, 2020 (the “Order”) establishing a separate account in the Fund’s name with the purpose of holding an agreed upon amount as security for the claims asserted by the IRS (the “Agreed Security Amount”). During the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024, the IRS approved a reduction to the Agreed Security Amount for a total of approximately $132 million that allowed the Fund to make a distribution of such amount.
On January 20, 2023, Altaba and Emily Larocque filed, and the Chancery Court granted, a stipulated order (the “Larocque Order”) setting the final holdback for the putative class action claim asserted by Emily Larocque in Saskatchewan, Canada, arising from the security incidents that took place between 2013 and 2016, which involved stolen Yahoo! user account information and forged cookies (the “Larocque Action”) and authorizing the Fund, among other things, to make one or more additional distributions totaling, in the aggregate, $200,000,000 upon the issuance by the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, Canada, of an opinion affirming the grant of the permanent stay previously granted by the Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan, Canada, reflecting the difference between the Fund’s then current holdback for the Larocque Action and the stipulated holdback. On May 25, 2023, the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, Canada affirmed the permanent stay of the Larocque Action which allowed the Fund to distribute the additional $200,000,000 from the holdback in the Larocque Action. On December 14, 2023, the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, Canada dismissed the leave to appeal from its judgment from the Larocque Action, which allowed the Fund to distribute the final holdback of $100,000,000.
On June 23, 2022, the Company filed with the Chancery Court a Stipulation and Proposed Order Regarding Final Monetary Holdback and Security for Claim of Droplets, Inc. (the “Requested Droplets Holdback Order”) that requested a holdback be maintained for $75 million until the earlier of (i) the full payment of all amounts due to Droplets pursuant to a settlement of all claims in the Patent Litigation; or (ii) the full payment of the amounts due to Droplets pursuant to a final non-appealable judgment in the Patent Litigation. On June 23, 2022, the Chancery Court entered the Requested Droplets Holdback Order. On December 20, 2023, a mandate was issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to dismiss the case allowing the Fund to distribute the holdback of $75 million.
In determining the aggregate amount to be distributed in the Liquidating Distribution, the Board also determined to authorize certain additional funds for distribution including, among others, the receipt of state income tax refunds received by the Company, federal interest refunds received by the Company, and excess interest earned on the Company’s investment portfolio, which in the aggregate, totaled approximately $65 million.
The Liquidating Distribution represents a partial distribution of the remaining assets of the Fund. Further information regarding the amount and timing of any subsequent liquidating distributions to stockholders will be provided in subsequent press releases or filings with the SEC as such information becomes available.
