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The 3 Billion Dollar Typo

Posted by Zonk on from the this-is-why-coffee-is-a-daily-requirement dept.

Rand310 writes "Mizuho, the world's second largest bank based in Japan, with total assets of nearly the GDP of France (around 1.2 trillion USD) accidentally sold 610,000 shares, valued at $3.1 billion... for 1 yen each. A 27 billion yen loss would almost match Mizuho Securities' group net profit of 28.1 billion yen for the financial year ended in March, though... the incident would not threaten the brokerage's financial stability. FYI 1 yen is about .83 cents. Yesterday one share was selling at $5,065, today you could theoretically have bought 610,000 shares for $.0083 each. An expensive switch of variables."

8 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. 1 BILLION Shares! Muuuahhahaahahahaha by mpapet · · Score: 4, Funny

    FTFA "The sell order, which was more than the available shares, somehow went through the TSE system.

    That to me is much more disturbing.

    I just wonder who's going to get the blame, IT or the software vendor?

    --
    http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
  2. Re:This brings a WHOLE new meaning... by JonTurner · · Score: 5, Funny

    >>I wonder which online deal site this was posted on first?

    FuckedCompany.com

  3. Re:Use http://www.xe.com/ucc by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

    Congratulations, you may have what it takes to be an editor here.

  4. New conversion! by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 4, Funny

    In addition to a Megabytes -> Library of congresses conversion, we now have a conversion of Frances to USD. I make 4.5833e-8 Frances last year!

  5. Re:You've got to admire the Mizuho execs... by Valiss · · Score: 5, Funny

    The company made a horrendous mistake and yet, there you see two executives bowing apologetically and taking responsibility on the day it happened .

    I have to wonder how a U.S. bank would have handled such a mistake?


    Well, I can tell you it wouldn't be the company execs who would be bending over...

    --

    -Valiss
  6. Re:Would be nice, but not really... by maxwell+demon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you sure you wanted
    to press the "Ok" button
    on the "Are you sure"
    dialog box?

      [ OK ]    [ Cancel ]

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  7. Re:Would be nice, but not really... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's very interesting.

  8. Re:Data Validation by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well based on the photo that MSN decided to run with on its article, apparently people at the Tokyo stock exchange have a special, Solitare-based GUI for doing stock trades:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10394551/

    This image:
    http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/ap/tok11012090345.hmed ium.jpg

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."