(Bloomberg) — Super Micro Computer Inc. fell the most in a month after the Wall Street Journal reported the US Justice Department is investigating the server maker in light of a short seller report that questioned the company’s accounting practices.
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A prosecutor at the US attorney’s office in San Francisco recently reached out to people who may have relevant information, according to the report. The prosecutor was seeking information that appeared to be related to a former employee who accused Super Micro of accounting violations and had earlier filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company and its chief executive officer, according to the report.
The shares fell 12% to $402.40 at the close Thursday in New York, marking the biggest decline since Aug. 28, a day after short seller Hindenburg Research released its report. The stock has gained 42% this year.
Super Micro declined to comment. A representative of the Justice Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In August, Hindenburg Research wrote that the company had “glaring accounting red flags, evidence of undisclosed related party transactions, sanctions and export control failures, and customer issues.”
–With assistance from Chris Strohm and Ian King.
(Updates with closing share price in the third paragraph.)
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