Affirm's Earnings Leak: How It Happened, And 3 Other High-Profile Companies That Have Done It

Affirm’s shares cratered 21.42% Thursday, in part due to a snafu on Twitter. 

Affirm AFRM missed on second-quarter earnings today, as its revenue came in at $361 million vs. $328.8 million expected and loss per share came in at 57 cents.

It wasn’t the company’s only bad news: in a since-deleted tweet, the Affirm Twitter account posted details regarding its financial performance during Thursday's trading session. The stock was halted twice on a circuit breaker. 

In another tweet, the company apologized, citing human error.

This is not the first time earnings reports have leaked prematurely. Here are three examples of earnings reports that were leaked in the past: 

Activision ATVI In May 2018, the Dow Jones Newswire released the embargoed report at 1 p.m., during regular market hours. The agency apologized for the mistake and was quoted as saying, "We regret our error as well as inadvertently breaking the embargo. We have issued a correction and are reviewing our processes." 

Twitter TWTR In April 2015, Selerity Research leaked Twitter's earnings report during market hours via a tweet. The company missed on revenue and monthly user expectations. elerity Research sent another tweet saying it got the information from Twitter’s investment relations website, suggesting that Twitter released its own financial performance too early. 

Alphabet GOOGL In October 2012, then-CEO Larry Page apologized, saying "sorry for the scramble" in a call with investors and analysts regarding a leaked earnings report by RR Donnelley. The financial printer informed Google that it filed its draft 8-K earnings statement without authorization. Google then ceased trading on Nasdaq while the document was finalized.