Yalla Group Announces $150M Share Buyback Program Following Fraud Allegations

Yalla Group Ltd’s YALA board approved a $150 million share buyback plan over the next year starting from May 21, 2021.
The announcement immediately follows Street Research’s short call report alleging “fraud” and calling the company a “credible de-listing candidate.”
Swan Street Research forecasted a 90% downside to the stock at $1-2 per share.
“The Company affirms that it has not placed any robots into any of its chatrooms or otherwise manipulated its MAU or other operating or financial data. Yalla has a solid business model and monetization model, which have been delivering strong revenue and profit, leading to solid cash balance,” the company said.
Yalla held $261.7 million in cash and equivalents as of March 31, 2021.
Price action: YALA shares traded higher by 12.4% at $17.94 in the premarket session on the last check Friday.