United Shares Tumble $900M In Aftermath Of Godawful Onboard Assault

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Published

April 11, 2017

Over three days, United has learned a very important lesson: the public doesn’t really endorse airlines using security details to beat the shit out of their paying customers.

@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here’s how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW

— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017

Actually, judging by their CEO’s damn-near contemptuous response to the viral footage of a man being thrown into an armrest and dragged off an overbooked flight, you could argue public sentiment isn’t really their chief concern.

Their company’s value, though? Well, if you’re willing to risk infamy in order to save a few bucks, you better believe they’re all about that bottom line. And, after 69-year-old David Dao was bloodied aboard that flight, the company took a US $900M hit to its valuation.

At their lowest point, shared dropped in value by 4.3%, representing a pretty huge shift in traders’ perception of the company. While trade has picked back up since that precipitous fall, United’s market cap was still US $300M down, demonstrating the company’s PR implosion has definitely been felt in the market.

via Yahoo! Finance.

The long-term ramifications of the incident could be even more financially significant, too. After Chinese media reported the roughing-up of Asian-American Dao, local social media users expressed their outrage, with some calling for a boycott. That could be a serious problem for United, seeing as China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for airline flights.

And, to think: all of this could have been avoided if the airline didn’t toss one of its passengers into an armrest for the crime of… not wanting to leave a flight he bought a ticket for. Who’d have thought?

Source: Yahoo! Finance / Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Garry Hershorn / Getty.