“BATS Global Markets withdrew its much-anticipated initial public offering on Friday after a glitch in its electronic exchange disrupted trading in its own debuting shares and those of Apple Inc.,” Benjamin Pimentel and Carla Mozee report for MarketWatch.
“Trades in shares of BATS were cancelled,” Pimentel and Mozee report. “In statement, Chief Executive Joe Ratterman said, ‘In the wake of today’s technical issues, which affected the trading of certain stocks, including that of BATS, we believe withdrawing the IPO is the appropriate action to take for our company and our shareholders.'”
“The announcement capped a wild ride for the company’s shares which appeared to be down by more than 90% at one point,” Pimentel and Mozee report. “‘What should have been one of the happiest days for BATS in their history has turned into a nightmare,’ said Scott Sweet of IPO Boutique, who had reported that the stock, before the fiasco, had been ‘multiple times oversubscribed.’ ‘The good that BATS has done which is sizeable has in essence been eradicated,’ he added. ‘Right, people see it as a comedy show.'”
Pimentel and Mozee report, “The system glitch also sent Apple Inc. shares tumbling by more than 9% prompting trades to be halted. Apple shares eventually ended the day down a fraction, closing at $596.05.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Worse timing is difficult to imagine.
Related article:
Apple shares get fat fingered, stock trading halted briefly, then resumed – March 23, 2012
Dang, that was my buying opportunity. Well I will have one next month.
I believe that they reversed the erroneously priced AAPL trades. If so, you would have gained nothing.
The mother of all screw ups!
That’s BATShit
Laugh of the day! Thank you Ubermac.
Hey, you know what they say: no publicity is bad publicity!
…and now we see why that saying is so asinine. Thanks, BATS, for today’s teachable moment!