Several class actions have been filed against Spanish-language television production company TV Azteca, S.A. de C.V. (NYSE:TZA) and certain of its officers and directors by stockholders who purchased the company's common stock between October 6, 2003, and January 7, 2004. The actions claim that the defendants violated federal securities laws by issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market over this time period, thereby artificially inflating the price of the company's securities. The stockholders seek to recover compensatory damages for the loss of value of their stock.

During the applicable period the defendants allegedly failed to disclose certain related-party transactions between a privately-held company jointly owned by the company's chairman, Ricardo Salinas Pliego and the company's president, M. Saba Masri and one of the company's affiliates Unefon Corporacion RBS, a wireless telecommunications provider in Mexico. The allegations surround the financial rescue of Unefon in June 2002 by a “white knight” group of investors—the defendants allegedly stonewalled disclosure of the true facts, including their choice to ignore advice from their securities lawyers in the U.S., until a spin-off of Unefon was completed in December 2002. The spin-off anticipated that Unefon's shares would be registered to trade in the U.S. markets facilitating a merger with Salinas' other telecommunications holdings.

On January 9, 2004, defendants stunned the markets by admitting that the "white-knight" investors were in fact Salinas and Saba who made a profit of $218 million when their privately-held company bought Unefon's debt for $107 million and then sold it back for $325 million. Market reaction to defendants' belated disclosures was predictably severe. By January 12, 2003, the first day of trading following the company's admission the price of TV Azteca securities fell more than 14.9 percent in value to close at $7.76 per share in heavy trading volume.

If you purchased the securities issued by TV Azteca, you may request appointment by the court as a lead plaintiff if you do so by March 23, 2004. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the court must determine that your claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that you will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain any counsel of your choice to serve as you in this action, or you may choose to do nothing, and remain in the class as a silent member.