Vodafone loses a record £21.8 billion
Vodafone has lost £21.8 billion ($41 billion), a UK record. Fortunately for the company, this staggering loss comes from Vodafone writing down the value of its assets (principally the German company Mannesman it bought for the bargain price £112 billion back in 2000), rather from it actually losing real money. And shareholders haven't lost out (yet!) either, as the share price actually rose 2% on news that Vodafone was returning £9 billion to them.
To put these figures in context, though, the total value of BT, the UK's primary fixed-line telco, is £19 billion, while Marks & Spencer's, high street uber-retailer, is worth £9 billion. So with one bold strike of an accountant's pen, Vodafone has lost the entire worth of BT or two Marks & Spencer's! Crazy world this mobile phone business!
[Source: BBC News]
