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Apple has agreed to pay $490 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging CEO Tim Cook misled investors about a sharp decline in iPhone sales in China that culminated in a shock revision to the company’s revenue forecast. Focusing on how Apple reported the performance of iPhone models released in September 2018 in China, one of the company’s largest markets.Cook said the new iPhones are in good shape. to begin during an investor conference in early November 2018, according to the complaint.That assurance turned into a huge disappointment on January 2, 2019, when Cook warned that Apple’s just-ended quarterly revenue would fall $9 billion short of the estimate of management . forecast for the season. In addition, almost all of the sales decline was due to weak demand in China.It was the first time Apple cut its revenue guidance since the release of the iPhone in 2007 and caused a 10% drop in its stock price as follows. a year during the day frenzied trading wipes more than $70 billion from shareholders’ fortunes.Apple vehemently denied that Cook misled investors about iPhone sales in China between November and early January. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company maintained that position in settlement documents, but said it decided to make the payment after more than four years of legal wrangling to avoid “overly burdensome, costly and disruptive” issues.The settlement was achieved. . was reached through a mediator after US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied Apple’s request to dismiss the case and set a trial date for September 9.Gonzalez Rogers will now be asked to accept the settlement at a hearing scheduled for September 30 of April.\ nThousands of shareholders who bought Apple shares at the end of 2018 could receive part of the settlement, which will be divided among less than $ 490 million after lawyers involved in the case are paid. Lawyers are seeking up to a quarter, or about $122 million, of the settlement.The $490 million payment represents less than 1% of Apple’s $97 billion in profits for its most recently ended fiscal year in September. Apple shareholders who liked their stock are also richer. Apple’s stock price has more than quadrupled since Cook’s China warning, creating $2 trillion in additional wealth for shareholders.