Berkshire Hathaway Shares Experience 99% Fall due to Technical Glitch on Wall Street

Shares of Warren Buffett‘s company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., witnessed a staggering 99% plummet at the commencement of trading on Wall Street today. The New York Stock Exchange promptly identified this sharp decline as a result of a technical glitch and consequently halted trading for the stock. Notably, the ‘Class-A’ shares of Berkshire Hathaway, of which 38% are owned by the company itself, displayed this anomalous reading.

In an updated statement, the New York Stock Exchange revealed that they are currently investigating a technical issue related to the upper and lower limits on stocks – mechanisms in place to cease trading in instances of excessive volatility. Following swift resolution of the problem, trading activities have resumed for Berkshire Hathaway as well as for Barrick Gold and Nuscale Power.

The NYSE attributed the issue to price bands disseminated by the Consolidated Tape Association, an entity utilized by major exchanges for the provision of real-time stock quotes. This incident comes in the wake of a similar glitch last week that disrupted trading on the US markets, along with a previous occurrence in January 2023 that impacted the opening auctions for select stocks.

During the trading halt, Berkshire Hathaway’s affected Class-A shares saw less than 4,000 recorded trades. Concurrently, trading remains ongoing for the company’s Class-B shares, which experienced a marginal 1% decrease. The original Class A shares of Berkshire Hathaway boast one of the highest prices on Wall Street, with recent transactions exceeding the average US home price by over 45%.

Berkshire introduced Class B shares in 1996, priced at a fraction of a Class A share, to cater to smaller investors seeking exposure to Buffett’s renowned performance. As investigations into the root cause of the glitch continue, the incident underscores the importance of maintaining operational integrity in financial markets.