Categories: OLD Media Moves

Company’s stock plunges after CEO mentions upcoming “60 Minutes” show

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc.’s stock plunged Wednesday after its CEO said on an earnings conference call that “60 Minutes” will feature the retailer in an unfavorable light, reports Matt Townsend of Bloomberg News.

Townsend writes, “The stock fell 24 percent to $52.45 at 3:15 p.m. in New York after earlier declining to $52 for the biggest intraday drop since 2011. The shares had gained 3.7 percent this year before today.

“The report by the CBS Corp.-owned television show will focus on product sourcing and a lawsuit brought against the company, Lynch said on a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter results. The lawsuit Lynch mentioned was filed in California and alleges the company violated safety laws with its use of formaldehyde, according to a regulatory filing.

“‘We’ve been dealing with some of these allegations for a couple of years now going back to 2012 and 2013,’ Lynch said in response to an analyst’s question. ‘What I’d tell you very confidently and clearly is that we are a leader in safety.’

“Lynch said that he didn’t know when the episode would air, but that it may be this weekend. Kevin Tedesco, a spokesman for CBS, said the company doesn’t comment on stories in the works, and the lineup for the Sunday ’60 Minutes’ show typically gets released on Thursday.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.