Wednesday, December 30, 2009

WOODS SCANDAL COSTS SHAREHOLDERS UP TO RM 12 BILLION


MIAMI - Tiger Woods, believed to be the world's wealthiest athlete who was estimated to earn about US$100 million a year in endorsement deals before his troubles, confessed on Dec 11 to "infidelity" to his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren. He announced he would take an indefinite break from golf to save his marriage.
  • The sex scandal that engulfed Tiger Woods may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world's No. 1 golfer up to US$12 billion (RM41 billion) in losses, according to a study by two economics professors from the University of California, Davis.
  • The study, released on Monday by researchers Victor Stango and Christopher Knittel, gave an estimate for damage to the market value of Woods' main sponsors caused by revelations of alleged extramarital affairs that surfaced after he was involved in a minor car accident outside his Florida home on Nov 27.
  • "We estimate that shareholders of Tiger Woods' sponsors lost US$5-12 billion after his car accident, relative to shareholders of firms that Woods does not endorse," the researchers wrote, adding that millions of shareholders were affected.
  • "Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too," Stango, a professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, said in a statement released along with the study.
Source: The Malaysian Insider, Reuters

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