In re Seagate Technology Holdings plc Securities Litigation

This is a securities class action that was brought on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Seagate Technology Holdings plc (“Seagate”) common stock from September 14, 2020, through April 19, 2023, inclusive (the “Class Period”).

Lead Plaintiffs Have Reached a Proposed Settlement of the Action for $175 Million

Lead Plaintiffs Universal-Investment-Gesellschaft mbH, Universal-Investment-Luxembourg S.A., UI BVK Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, and Arkansas Public Employees’ Retirement System (“Lead Plaintiffs”), on behalf of themselves and the Settlement Class, have reached a proposed settlement of the Action for $175,000,000 in cash that, if approved, will resolve the Action (the “Settlement”).

If you are a member of the Settlement Class, your rights will be affected and you may be eligible for a payment from the Settlement. The Settlement Class consists of:

all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired common stock of Seagate from September 14, 2020 through April 19, 2023, inclusive (the “Class Period”), and were allegedly damaged thereby

Certain persons and entities are excluded from the Settlement Class by definition (see paragraph 1(uu) of the Stipulation) or may request exclusion (see pages 16-17 of the Notice).

Please read the Notice to fully understand your rights and options. Copies of the Notice and Claim Form can be found in the Case Documents list on the right of this page. You may also visit the case website, www.SeagateSecuritiesLitigation.com, for more information about the Settlement.

To be eligible to receive a payment under the proposed Settlement, you must submit a Claim Form postmarked (if mailed) or submitted on-line by no later than October 19, 2026.

Payments to eligible claimants will be made only if the Court approves the Settlement and a plan of allocation, and only after any appeals are resolved, and after the completion of all claims processing.  Please be patient, as this process will take some time to complete.

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES

October 19, 2026	Claim Filing Deadline.  Claim Forms must be postmarked (if mailed) or submitted on-line no later than October 19, 2026.
October 27, 2026	Exclusion Deadline.  To exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, you must submit a written request for exclusion so that it is received no later than October 27, 2026, in accordance with the instructions in the Notice.
October 27, 2026	Objection Deadline.  Any objection to the proposed Settlement, the proposed Plan of Allocation, or the motion for attorneys’ fees and expenses, must be submitted so it is filed or postmarked no later than October 27, 2026, in accordance with the instructions in the Notice.
November 17, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time	Settlement Hearing.  The Settlement Hearing will be held on November 17, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time, before the Honorable Rita F. Lin, United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of California, in Courtroom 4, 17th Floor of the Phillip Burton Federal Building, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, and by Zoom videoconference. The Settlement Hearing will be held by the Court to consider, among other things, whether the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and should be approved; whether the proposed Plan of Allocation is fair and reasonable and should be approved; and whether Lead Counsel’s motion for attorneys’ fees and expenses should be approved. Persons may access the Settlement Hearing via videoconference at https://cand.uscourts.gov/judges/lin-rita-f-rfl/.

Background and History of the Litigation

On July 26, 2023, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP (“BLB&G”) filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging violations of federal securities laws by Seagate. The action is brought on behalf of all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Seagate common stock between September 14, 2020, and April 19, 2023, inclusive (the “Class Period”). The complaint expands the allegations that were asserted in a previously filed related securities class action pending against Seagate captioned UA Local 38 Defined Contribution Pension Plan v. Seagate Technology Holdings plc, No. 3:23-cv-03431 (N.D. Cal.).

On October 19, 2023, BLB&G filed a Consolidated Class Action Complaint on behalf of its clients, the Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi and Arkansas Public Employees' Retirement System, and the case is captioned In re Seagate Technology Holdings plc Securities Litigation, No. 23-cv-03431-VC (N.D. Cal.). The consolidated complaint is based on an extensive investigation and a careful evaluation of the merits of this case. On September 12, 2024, BLB&G filed a Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint with additional details based on further investigation. To view the consolidated complaint, see the Case Documents section of this page.

Seagate’s Alleged Fraud

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Seagate is a provider of data storage technology and infrastructure solutions. Among other things, Seagate manufactures and designs mass-capacity hard disk drives (“HDDs”), which contain sensitive U.S. semiconductor components. 

On May 16, 2019, telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. (“Huawei”) was added to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security’s (“BIS”) Entity List (“Entity List”), following a determination that the administration had deemed Huawei a threat to national security. Huawei’s designation on the Entity List meant that companies manufacturing products containing certain U.S.-origin components that were subject to the Export Administration Regulations were required to obtain a special license from BIS for the export, reexport, and transfer of all such products, where Huawei or any of its affiliates were end users in the transaction. In August of 2020, BIS amended its restrictions to “narrowly and strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.”  

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Seagate repeatedly assured investors that the Company was in compliance with all U.S. export control and sanctions laws. Seagate maintained that its HDDs were not subject to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s sanctions against Huawei, even as its only competitors, Western Digital and Toshiba, had ceased HDD sales to Huawei to comply with the sanctions. Seagate also reported significant growth in HDD sales, which it attributed to significant and growing demand for HDDs and other legitimate business factors, and downplayed Seagate's reliance on its HDD sales to Huawei. These misrepresentations caused the price of Seagate common stock to trade at artificially inflated prices throughout the Class Period.

The truth emerged through a series of disclosures beginning on October 26, 2021, when a group of U.S. senators from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (the “Senate Committee”) released a report urging BIS to take action against Seagate for its illicit sales to Huawei. In response, Seagate announced that the Company had ceased HDD sales to Huawei. Throughout 2022, Seagate repeatedly reported earnings that were below expectations and lowered revenue and earnings guidance, which the Company attributed to “disruption in the Chinese market” and lower demand in China. Then, on October 26, 2022, Seagate announced that it had received a Proposed Charging Letter from BIS alleging violations of the U.S. export controls and sanctions laws. That same day, Seagate reported that its HDD sales had plummeted by 26% for its fiscal first quarter ended September 30, 2022. These disclosures caused the price of Seagate common stock to decline by $4.61 per share, or nearly 8%.

Then, after the end of the Class Period, on April 19, 2023, BIS announced that it had imposed a $300 million civil penalty against Seagate for violating the ban on HDD sales to Huawei—the largest standalone administrative resolution in the agency’s history. According to the order that BIS issued imposing the civil penalty, through its investigation BIS determined that between August 2020 and September 2021, Seagate sold 7.4 million HDDs to Huawei, which were valued at more than $1.1 billion.

Defendants moved to dismiss the amended complaint on November 13, 2023. On August 8, 2024, Judge Rita F. Lin granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss with leave to amend, and on September 12, 2024, BLB&G filed the Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint for Violations of Federal Securities Laws (the “Complaint”).

On October 28, 2024, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Complaint. After full briefing and oral argument, the Court issued an order on May 12, 2025 granting in part and denying in part Defendants’ motion to dismiss the Complaint.

Defendants filed their Answer to the Complaint on June 23, 2025, and their Amended Answer to the Complaint on July 14, 2025.

Discovery commenced in May 2025. Pursuant to detailed document requests and substantial requests and negotiations, Defendants and third parties produced more than 95,000 documents. Lead Plaintiffs reviewed and produced more than 5,500 documents (constituting over 72,000 pages) to Defendants. The Parties also served or responded to interrogatories and requests for admission and exchanged numerous letters, including disputes between the Parties concerning discovery issues. Lead Plaintiffs served subpoenas on and negotiated document discovery with approximately twenty third parties.

On June 23, 2025, Defendants filed a Motion to Certify Order for Interlocutory Appeal and to Stay Proceedings, which was fully briefed on June 30, 2025. The Court denied the motion on August 29, 2025.

On December 16, 2025, Lead Plaintiffs filed a Motion for Class Certification, Appointment of Class Representatives, and Approval of Class Counsel. Defendants filed their opposition on February 10, 2026 and Lead Plaintiffs filed a reply on March 24, 2026.

The Parties participated in a private mediation with David M. Murphy of Phillips ADR Enterprises on November 5, 2025 and again on March 21, 2026. Following the second mediation, the Parties continued settlement discussions and reached an agreement in principle to settle the Action for $175 million that was memorialized in a term sheet (the “Term Sheet”) executed as of April 20, 2026. The Parties entered a Stipulation of Agreement of Settlement setting forth the terms of the Settlement on May 29, 2026.

On July 7, 2026, the Court preliminarily approved the Settlement, authorized notice of the Settlement to be provided to potential Settlement Class Members, and scheduled the Settlement Hearing to consider whether to grant final approval of the Settlement for November 17, 2026.