It appears that someone in Disney’s corporate communications department (Goofy?) had an itchy trigger figure on the (Mickey?) mouse, and it cost the company millions.
TheWrap received a draft (below) of Disney’s earnings release — reporting a 6.7 percent decline in fourth quarter profit, a weaker result than analysts had been expecting — at 3:44 p.m., or 17 minutes earlier than it should’ve been sent. (Other reports said the release was leaked as much as 30 minutes early, giving Wall Street investors a chance to react to the results ahead of the closing bell.)
The news sent Disney’s shares down about 5 percent before the stock market closed at 4:00 p.m., closing at $35.93 per share (down 2.9 percent for the day ) on heavy volume, with more than 37 million shares changing hands — well above its three-month average of about 10 million.
During Disney’s 4:30 conference call with investors, steamed executives acknowledged the release was sent erroneously, and that they were looking into how exactly it happened.
[Click to enlarge.]
