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United Airlines Briefly Lost 75% of its Value Because of Story from 2002

16 points by ojbyrne 18y ago

byrneseyeview 18y ago
I guess that is the control group for the Emulex Hoax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulex_hoax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulex_hoax
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Bloomberg is sounding a lot like Wikipedia lately, except that when someone edits the 3 Doors Down Wikipedia entry to say that Avril Lavigne is their lead singer, nobody loses a billion.
ivank 18y ago
I sold my friend a barrel of oil for $1 yesterday, briefly wiping out the world economy.
Protophore 18y ago
It will be interesting to see if anyone made money off of the false information and goes to jail because of it.
- dcurtis 18y ago
  It will also be interesting to see if anyone made money off of it legally and doesn't go to jail. Probably a lot of lucky day traders.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    For someone to sell the shares at $3 someone else had to buy them at that price.
- ars 18y ago
  It's not illegal to make money on the false info, but it is to post the false info in the first place. Was it accidental or deliberate? I guess we shall find out. Although, at least the NASDAQ has a mechanism for canceling sales (for example if someone typo's on entering a price). Will they use that?
jrockway 18y ago
“This was a very serious event that impacted our stock, and caused trading to be halted,” she said. “This is what happens when people are irresponsible and don’t check facts.” If I ever have a few billion dollars lying around, I think I'm going to slowly buy United stock and then randomly dump it all one day... just to annoy her. I can see the quote: “This was a very serious event that impacted our stock, and caused trading to be halted,” she said. “This is what happens when jrockway has too much money on his hands.”
- ovi256 18y ago
  > If I ever have a few billion dollars lying around, I think I'm going to give it to jrockway ... just to annoy her.
ca98am79 18y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if the trading bots did it - they are getting very smart
- fauigerzigerk 18y ago
  I agree. And those other "bots" who read the story in the first place and started selling are getting dumber it seems :-)
  - daniel-cussen 18y ago
    Looks like what they need's a bot that can act as a bullshit detector.
    - Chocobean 18y ago
      Bullsh!i Bot? Shortened to B!B?

16 points by ojbyrne 18y ago

I guess that is the control group for the Emulex Hoax: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulex_hoax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulex_hoax

mattmaroon 18y ago
Bloomberg is sounding a lot like Wikipedia lately, except that when someone edits the 3 Doors Down Wikipedia entry to say that Avril Lavigne is their lead singer, nobody loses a billion.

ivank 18y ago

I sold my friend a barrel of oil for $1 yesterday, briefly wiping out the world economy.

Protophore 18y ago

It will be interesting to see if anyone made money off of the false information and goes to jail because of it.

dcurtis 18y ago
It will also be interesting to see if anyone made money off of it legally and doesn't go to jail. Probably a lot of lucky day traders.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  For someone to sell the shares at $3 someone else had to buy them at that price.
ars 18y ago
It's not illegal to make money on the false info, but it is to post the false info in the first place. Was it accidental or deliberate? I guess we shall find out. Although, at least the NASDAQ has a mechanism for canceling sales (for example if someone typo's on entering a price). Will they use that?

jrockway 18y ago

“This was a very serious event that impacted our stock, and caused trading to be halted,” she said. “This is what happens when people are irresponsible and don’t check facts.” If I ever have a few billion dollars lying around, I think I'm going to slowly buy United stock and then randomly dump it all one day... just to annoy her. I can see the quote: “This was a very serious event that impacted our stock, and caused trading to be halted,” she said. “This is what happens when jrockway has too much money on his hands.”

ovi256 18y ago
> If I ever have a few billion dollars lying around, I think I'm going to give it to jrockway ... just to annoy her.

ca98am79 18y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if the trading bots did it - they are getting very smart

fauigerzigerk 18y ago
I agree. And those other "bots" who read the story in the first place and started selling are getting dumber it seems :-)
- daniel-cussen 18y ago
  Looks like what they need's a bot that can act as a bullshit detector.
  - Chocobean 18y ago
    Bullsh!i Bot? Shortened to B!B?