Reuters is reporting that shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEH) have plunged over 40%. The plunge has erased $4 billion of market value. The plunge began after Dow Jones Newswire broke the news that a potential acquirer of Lehman's had ended talks with the brokerage firm.
Shares began falling after a Dow Jones Newswires report that the chairman of South Korea's top securities regulator, Jun Kwang-woo, had said talks between Lehman and KDB had ended. A spokesman for the regulator denied the report, telling Reuters that Jun never made any such declaration.
The Dow article also quoted an unnamed government official as saying KDB had decided not to invest in Lehman.
"The market fears that no one will inject capital in the company," said Nick Kalivas, equity market analyst at MF Global Research in Chicago.
In afternoon trading, Lehman shares were down $5.95, or 42 percent, at $8.20 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The slide wiped out more than $4 billion of market value, based on reported shares outstanding, and was a factor in broad declines in major U.S. stock indexes. Prices of safe-haven U.S. Treasuries rose. Lehman shares touched their lowest level since October 1998, Reuters data show.
Lehman's plunge has also impacted the Dow which is currently down over 200 points. There is said to be concern about a Lehman's downgrade. More coverage of the Lehman Brothers news can be found at Bloomberg, Deal Journal, Barrons, Guardian, Forbes and Motley Fool.
Reuters is 
