On Monday, a technical glitch caused a massive, temporary plunge in Berkshire Hathaway’s stock price, dropping it from over $620,000 to a mere $185 per share. This unexpected drop presented an extraordinary 99% discount on the Warren Buffett-led conglomerate’s Class A stock. Traders who seized the opportunity to buy at the drastically reduced price saw their investments skyrocket in value—at least, temporarily. A post on X shows the 99% dip before it recovered, a little over an hour later:

During an early Monday software update, a glitch caused the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to halt trading on about 40 stocks incorrectly. Odd trades displayed a 99% drop in companies, including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. # # # # # # # #https://t.co/YwLOt3ETyN pic.twitter.com/mqePSfRJlH

— Crypto Geek (@JoeSmit27977592) June 4, 2024

Unfortunately for those lucky buyers, their trades have been canceled. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) swiftly intervened to reverse all trades of Berkshire Hathaway stock at or below $603,718.30, citing the error as "erroneous." This action came after a data glitch, attributed to the Consolidated Tape Association (CTA), which provides real-time trading information. The CTA's issues reportedly stemmed from a new software release that impacted price banding, prompting the CTA to revert to a previous software version.

The technical problem lasted about an hour and a half, during which the NYSE halted certain trades and began identifying those to be canceled. The glitch has since been resolved, with normal trading resuming. The NYSE stated that all affected trades in other companies, including Chipotle, Barrack Gold Corporation, and GameStop, will also be nullified without the possibility of appeal.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock remained unaffected, and its Class A stock closed at over $631,000 following the correction. The company has yet to comment on the situation.

This incident is one of several recent disruptions across international stock exchanges. Just last week, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average data vanished from traders’ screens for about an hour, an issue still under investigation. In a more severe case, a London Stock Exchange glitch in May 2022 led to a $1.4 billion sell-off, costing Citigroup nearly $70 million in fines.

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