According to the docket, on December 6, 2000, U.S. District Judge G. R. Anderson Jr. approved the five million dollar settlement. The plaintiff’s counsel was awarded 30% of the settlement and attorney’s fees in the amount of $97,770.00. Earlier, the Court entered an Order on May 12, 2000, dismissing the action without prejudice and the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement was entered on September 22, 2000.

The original Complaint alleges that defendants improperly inflated earnings from operations by utilizing accounting treatments not in conformity with generally accepted accounting practices. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that defendants (1) improperly accounted for operating expenses as one-time charges connected to acquisitions; and (2) beginning in the second quarter of 1998, capitalized marketing expenses that had previously been expenses without disclosing a material change in its accounting practices. The Complaint further alleges that defendants' misleading positive statements artificially inflated the price of Datastream's common stock during the Class Period. On October 20, 1998, Datastream surprised investors by issuing a press release announcing disappointing earnings for the third quarter of 1998. The market reacted sharply to the announcement with Datastream stock falling $4-1/8 or 29%, to $10 per share. Datastream common stock had traded above $20 per share for much of the Class Period.