AT&T; drops Tiger amid claim he caused $12B corporate loss
It’s the story that won’t go away.
Yes, many facets of Tiger Woods’ lurid tale do not belong on MSN Money. Like that he needed emergency plastic surgery after Elin whacked him in the face with a nine iron. Or that he’s now rumoured to be in sex therapy (sex therapy!).
But there is also a huge financial piece to his still-unravelling chronicle that's worth discussing, and that aspect’s interest level has hit a fresh peak with a few recent bits of news.
For starters, communication giant AT&T announced today it will drop Tiger from its sponsorship, the third of his major endorsers to fully separate themselves from the golfer.
Both Accenture and Gillette chipped Woods from their roster earlier in December.
So, if you’re scoring at home, the breakdown on how Tiger’s sponsors have handled his scandal looks like this:
-Dropped: Accenture, AT&T, Gillette.
-Supporting: Nike, EA Sports, Gatorade (though Tiger’s brand drink has been discontinued) and Tag Heuer (which will “respect his desire of privacy” and cut down on Tiger’s marketing presence in the coming months, according to its website)
An impressive resume when you look at it, no? Which brings us to …
… The second big piece of news. While Tiger’s career earnings were well documented, it wasn’t quite as clear how much each of his sponsorship deals was worth. AT&T, for one, never admitted how much it had invested in the golfer.
But while we’ll never know for sure how much Tiger lost in all this, it seems like we’re closer to measuring things going the other way.
A new study from the University of California estimates Woods’ infidelities (and the resulting fallout) have cost shareholders of the firms that endorsed him $12-bilion in value.
Victor Stango, a Cal professor of economics, looked at stock market returns for the 13 trading days between Tiger’s U.S. Thanksgiving Day crash and Dec. 17, a week after he announced he’d be taking a leave from professional golf.
To get the figure, Stango compared the stocks to how they’d performed over the past four years, as well as the fluctuations of the total market and competing stocks relative to the ones involved with the golfer. (Read more about the research here.)
“Total shareholder losses may exceed several decades’ worth of Tiger Woods’ personal endorsement income,” Stango said.
Twelve billion dollars. Believe that number or not, but whatever you do, be sure to archive it in the ever-growing list of reasons why Tiger Woods is probably ready for the New Year.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Don | Jan 3, 2022 1:09:09 PM
A 12B dollar loss???? Maybe a large part of our problem is that money no longer has much to do with money when statements like this are made. It seems to me that value is no longer linked to what it costs to actually produce and ship the product (as we seem to believe as the general public ) but linked more to what the advetising companies and stock markets think might happen. Someones opinion or as Woods case...presence.....dicate such huge losses on your stock protfolio....ridiiculous isnt it? This has got to end!
Posted by: L | Jan 3, 2022 6:28:50 PM
You are too right Don! Value is now connected to media, which is very sad. However, I don't see it changing very much in the future. Therefore, if you are in a business, making good money and you need the media, be very careful of what you get caught saying or doing. This is a different version of the "old" days, when your life was ruined by the community gossip. Actually, things haven't changed alot in the past century, have they? ;)
Posted by: GRP | Jan 6, 2022 8:54:51 AM
Are you sure that this 12B in losses can be attriuted to Tiger Woods? I belive strongly that is this age of economic uncertanty there other causes.