Astounding German stock market {link} activity on Tuesday the 28th of October 2008 briefly made Volkswagen {link} the world's biggest company (by share value).
Traders who had short-sold VW shares were desperately trying to buy them back so they could close their deals and this, in conjunction with Porsche having bought shares, made Volkswagen worth a staggering $370 billion (shares peaked at €1,005 each). The largest firm in the world is (in reality) Exxon Mobil with a value of $343 billion.
Porsche {link} announced that it owned, or has options to buy, more than 74% of Volkswagen's shares whilst Lower Saxony controls 20% of the VW shares which left just over 5% available on the market. This scarcity was the factor that fuelled the huge increase in VW’s (paper) value. Traders who had short sold, betting that VW shares were going to fall in value were forced to buy shares at any price resulting in the massive hike in VW’s share price (their shares rose a stunning 146.6% on the 27th October 2008).
Volkswagen shares and company value have seen a return to normal, less astounding levels with shares now trading at around €650 instead of over €1000 as they were at points on Volkswagen’s Super Tuesday.
Traders who had short-sold VW shares were desperately trying to buy them back so they could close their deals and this, in conjunction with Porsche having bought shares, made Volkswagen worth a staggering $370 billion (shares peaked at €1,005 each). The largest firm in the world is (in reality) Exxon Mobil with a value of $343 billion.
Porsche {link} announced that it owned, or has options to buy, more than 74% of Volkswagen's shares whilst Lower Saxony controls 20% of the VW shares which left just over 5% available on the market. This scarcity was the factor that fuelled the huge increase in VW’s (paper) value. Traders who had short sold, betting that VW shares were going to fall in value were forced to buy shares at any price resulting in the massive hike in VW’s share price (their shares rose a stunning 146.6% on the 27th October 2008).
Volkswagen shares and company value have seen a return to normal, less astounding levels with shares now trading at around €650 instead of over €1000 as they were at points on Volkswagen’s Super Tuesday.
