A six-year-old article mistakenly posted on a newspaper Web site yesterday reported the bankruptcy of United Airlines and triggered a massive sell-off that nearly obliterated the company's stock in a matter of minutes.
The light-speed wipeout is a powerful reminder of how quickly bad information can spread via the Internet to a trigger-happy Wall Street that is willing to dump millions of dollars in stock before checking the facts.
United's stock fell 76 percent to $3 before trading was halted at 11:08 a.m. Trading resumed at 12:30 p.m. and shares closed down $1.38, or 11.2 percent, to $10.92, on a volume of 54.6 million shares.
United said it is unsure whether the incident will cause the already-shaky airline material damage.
At United's Chicago headquarters yesterday morning, the airline's financial services division watched in horror as the stock plummeted, while its shocked media relations department was besieged by reporters asking why the company had declared bankruptcy again.
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