Hindsight Market

The Graveyard › 2001

Polaroid Corporation

PRD · Instruments & Medical Devices · NYSE · in our data January 2, 1968 to October 9, 2001 (33.8 years)

Our price history begins on January 2, 1968, and Polaroid Corporation was already trading then; how long before that, our data does not say. At its peak, on May 26, 1972, the market valued it at $4.9 billion. It ended in a collapse: the last trade was $0.28, -99.5% from its split-adjusted high. The delisting record says: likely failure.

1968-012001-10
Peak market value$4.9 billionMay 26, 1972
Highest split-adjusted share price$54.98July 28, 1997
Last share price$0.28October 9, 2001
From its split-adjusted high to the end-99.5%
Return over the days in our data-99.1%with dividends, before the last trade
Worst single day-34.9%October 9, 2001

Share prices are adjusted for splits and other share changes, so the high and the last price compare like for like; the peak market value is as it was on the day. The return covers the trading days in our data only: it does not include what holders received, or lost, after the last trade (a merger payout, a bankruptcy), and it does not reach back before 1968.

Could you have seen it coming? Play Dot-com

Also gone in 2001: Instruments & Medical Devices