IBM Shares Off by Nearly 50% Since July

The stunning decline in IBM’s stock price since summer has wiped out nearly $28 billion in paper wealth of its shareholders.

IBM shares traded at $100.25 on July 16, their recent high. On Wednesday, after distressing comments from IBM’s management on the company’s outlook, IBM shares fell another $4.25 to close at $51.875--an 11-year low.

IBM had announced Tuesday that it may have to reduce its annual dividend to shareholders and that it would barely break even this quarter. It also said it would reduce earnings by $6 billion to pay for another round of cost reduction, including 25,000 job cuts next year.

That news sent IBM’s stock price plummeting Tuesday by $6.75 a share to $56.125 on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was the most-active stock.

IBM has about 570 million shares outstanding. That figure multiplied by the price of the shares gives an overall value for the computer maker’s stock. That figure was about $57 billion on July 16; on Wednesday it totaled about $29 billion.

An investor who purchased 100 shares on July 16 for $10,025 has seen the investment’s value erode to $5,187 over the last five months.