Ohio pension funds sue Warner Bros. over $25.5M in stock losses

Laura A. Bischoff, The Columbus Dispatch
·1 min read
The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio serves nearly 493,000 active, inactive and retired Ohio public educators. STRS Ohio is one of the largest public pension funds in the country.
The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio serves nearly 493,000 active, inactive and retired Ohio public educators. STRS Ohio is one of the largest public pension funds in the country.
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Ohio's two largest public pension funds are suing Warner Bros. Discovery, claiming that the company leaders misled investors during its merger and the retirement systems suffered $25.5 million in losses.

Attorney General Dave Yost filed paperwork to get Ohio named as the lead plaintiff in the securities class-action lawsuit. Yost represents the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System.

Retirement SystemOhio's largest public pension sues Facebook, saying the media giant misled investors

The case, which is pending in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claims that company executives failed to disclose adverse financial information before the merger closed April 8. For example, the company overstated its HBO Max subscribers by as much as 10 million, the lawsuit says.

Between April and September, the price of Warner Bros. Discovery plummeted 52.4%, from $24.78 per share to $11.79. That wiped out more than $31 billion in the company's market value.

OPERS and STRS are among the largest public pension systems in the world. Collectively, the two serve nearly 1.9 million members and retirees and manage more than $200 billion in assets.

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio pension funds sue Warner Bros. Discovery over investment losses