Victim of a hoax, Vinci loses 7 billion on the stock market in a few minutes

The construction giant Vinci was the victim of a false rumor creating panic at the CAC 40 and the loss of 7 billion euros in a few minutes. Explanations.

At the origin of the incident, the publication on November 22 of a hoax, included a false rumor, attesting alarming information about the accounts of the group which sends the CAC 40 plunging by almost 19% starting at 16:05 and in a few minutes, the value of the share Vinci passes from 61.81 € to 49.93 €, before the suspension of its listing. The group lost 7 billion in a few minutes.

The hoax, sent to the editorial offices and major news agencies, announced the dismissal of its chief financial officer, Christian Labeyrie, responsible for major accounting errors relating to the financial year 2015 and the first half of 2016, a sum of 3,5 billion euros, says Le Monde. Proof of its falsity, the contact of a fictional press attaché of Vinci whose number and the address of the site were erroneous (vinci.group instead of vinci.com!) And a very approximate English for a release in English version .

A fake denial followed at 16:44. It was until 5:01 p.m. that Vinci sent the real denial directly to the electronic mail of the leading journalists of the sector: "Vinci formally denies all the" information "contained in this false statement and consider all legal actions to give the result of this publication. " Since Wednesday 23 November, the course has risen to 60.04 €.