Six-Year-Old News Story Causes United Airlines Stock to Plummet

[Xipe Totec]

A worker at a Miami investment advisory firm called Income Securities Advisors, which publishes news alerts that get distributed through the Bloomberg News Service, did a Google search on bankruptcies this morning and got back search results that included a six-year-old story published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel about the 2002 bankruptcy filing by United Airlines.

The employee mistook the news for a current story -- despite the date clearly marked on it (see update below) and other information in the article "that would clearly lead a reader to the conclusion that it was related to events in 2002" -- and included it in a subscription newsletter that was distributed through Bloomberg.

Panic ensued, as they say, and United Airlines stock price plummeted 75 percent (down from $12.30 to $3 a share) before someone realized it was an old news story and things righted themselves. The stock rebounded to $10.92 a share by Monday's closing. But not before United Airlines contacted the Sun Sentinel and demanded the newspaper retract its (6-year-old) story.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/09/six-year-old-st.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. ugh...whatever happened to attention to detail?

[uppityperson]

2. k&r for "oops", wonder what happened to the employee

[krispos42]

3. Somebody made a fortune from that little "mistake"

Probably two fortunes, one by short-selling and one the regular way.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Bingo! n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Wow. Just wow. -nt