False report sends UAL stock on wild ride

False report sends UAL stock on wild ride

STEVE LADURANTAYE
Monday, September 08, 2008

UAL Corp. saw its shares wiped out temporarily Monday morning on false rumours that it planned to file for bankruptcy protection.

Shares in the parent of United Airlines were halted on the Nasdaq stock exchange at 11 a.m. (ET) after being quoted at 1 cent. Trade resumed at 12:30 p.m., with the shares down just 8.6 per cent from their opening price to $11.25.

The company said the panic was sparked by an old story from the Chicago Tribune reappearing as current news Monday morning. It was published on Dec. 10, 2002, and detailed the company's $22-million in daily losses and its bid to restructure while under bankruptcy protection.

“Reports that the company filed for bankruptcy are completely untrue and were cause by the irresponsible posting of a six-year-old Chicago Tribune story by the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper website with the date changed,” the company said in a statement. “The story was related to United's 2002 bankruptcy filing, and United has demanded a retraction from the Sun Sentinel and is launching an investigation.”