Man almost dies from Google error

It was like a Wall Street version of one of those Keystone Cops comedies of the 1930s, but at least one investor wasn't laughing. According to his stockbroker, he almost had a heart attack as a result of what appeared to be an enormous plunge Thursday in after-hours trading in the price of the high-flying shares of Internet search engine Google.

The incident, which some Street pros contend is a blunder of major proportions by Nasdaq, surprisingly managed to escape the eyes of the financial press and was never reported even though the decline — an astonishing drop of nearly $350 a share in a mere 10 minutes — was the greatest ever in the history of the stock market in after-hours trading — and undoubtedly in regular trading, as well.

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Great story! I must have missed that one!

 

Oh okay, I thought google stock really did plunge

I feel sorry for that guy, If I had thought I lost 68k I would be hysterical also.

 

i would have a heart attack if i was about to lose that much money.

 

Same here. That's alot of money.

 

No one has ever heard of "bad data"? Back when I was spending a ton on data feeds - we would still get bad ticks (or a series of them).

 

Is there any medical evidence to back up the claim that he almost suffered a heart attack....was it just a figure of speech?

The guy should not be buying internet stocks, then.

 

It's all just "buffer overflows" ....

 

This may seem like a joke now but goog may one day in the distant future may trade at $38. Remember the 90's...

 

thats why they say that share market is not for fragile hearted!

 

I'd say that the one to drop the ball was The New York Sun. I saw a report about the screw-up on CNBC only a day after it happened. Someone (at NASDAQ?) made a decimal typo on a computer. The resulting glitch did not last long and NASDAQ canceled all affected trades.

 

Interesting. The guy shouls have checked to see the reason for the drop. This way he might just have realised it might have been a mistake.

 

Why on earth would the stock drop like that.. If he was an experienced trader he shouldv enquired first..

Or is it time for Google to fall? *ooohhh*

 

Oh no, I'd say google has at least another 5 years to continue to mess things up before someone else pulls the rug out from under them.

 

very sad for that Guy and interesting story you have shared.

 

Really glad he's okay. It's completely awful to have a heart attack and die when there wasn't a problem in the first place. Not that it makes it any less bad that someone would potentially die like that if it was the real deal, though.