United’s market capitalization, essentially the current value of the company, has fallen by more than $750 million from $22.5 billion after a video showing a bloodied United passenger who was dragged off a flight made headlines on Monday.
At the time of publication, United’s market cap has slid to $21.70 billion.
United’s CEO Oscar Munoz has stood by the decision to remove the man who refused to give up his seat on the overbooked flight to a United employee on stand-by. In a note to employees, Munoz wrote, “as you will read, this situation was unfortunately compounded when one of the passengers we politely asked to deplane refused and it became necessary to contact Chicago Aviation Security Officers to help. While I deeply regret this situation arose, I also emphatically stand behind all of you, and I want to commend you for continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.”
If you haven’t seen, the passenger, David Dao, 69, was smashed into a armrest before being dragged off the plane. Later Dao ran back onto the plane, his face covered in blood, repeatedly muttering “just kill me.”