Blockbuster stock plummet 77% to 22 cents a share…why?
Frigging Tweeters:
STORY:
n the spring of 2009, Blockbuster Video retained the services of Kirkland & Ellis, a law firm with a reputation for helping companies with bankruptcy filings. Rumors that the video rental chain was going to file for bankruptcy spread rapidly across social media. In the melee, one Twitter post used Blockbuster’s stock symbol, BBI, to report the rumor. Reading it, another Twitter user asked, “Is this Best Buy?”
Best Buy—its stock symbol is BBY—was listening and responded to the Twitter post directly, cutting short any rumor that the electronics’ retailer might be in trouble. The event exemplified the power of consumer conversations occurring online today. Blockbuster, which later said it hired the law firm to help it raise funds and didn’t file for bankruptcy for about another year and a half, saw its stock plummet 77% to 22 cents a share that day.
It was one of 15 Best Buy employees who are wholly dedicated to monitoring and engaging with consumers online who saw and responded to the potentially devastating tweet. The team has the web covered 24/7. “In a day when anyone can tweet, blog or post a video that may or may not be based in fact, brands have to be monitoring the conversations out there,” says Gina Debogovich, Best Buy’s senior manager of communities.
