How Facebook's $124-billion rout could rewrite history books

Shares tumbled as much as 20 per cent in New York on Thursday. This translates to a $124 billion decline in market capitalization -- the largest ever loss of value in one day for a US traded company

Facebook Inc. has racked up plenty of milestones in its pioneering journey. Now the social-media giant has added another one that it would have rather avoided: the biggest stock-market wipeout in American history.

Shares tumbled as much as 20 per cent in New York on Thursday as sales and user growth disappointed investors. This translates to a $124 billion decline in market capitalization, which is the largest ever loss of value in one day for a US traded company.

Biggest Losers

The following is a look at some of history’s other notable one-day share slams, considering American firms that were worth at least $150 billion in any year over the past decade.

Facebook could crack the $100 billion mark for one-day losses as it declined as much as 24 per cent in Wednesday’s after-hours session.

Back in the depths of the tech bust, Intel Corp. lost about $91 billion on one September day in 2000. Exxon Mobil Corp., already reeling from the financial crisis and recession in October 2008, lost $53 billion one wretched Wednesday that month. And the slowest profit growth at Apple Inc. in 10 years triggered a loss of almost $60 billion on January 24, 2013.

Facebook had declined as much as 24 per cent in Wednesday’s after-hours session.