FACTBOX: Shopping list for SocGen's $7.2 bln loss

Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:21am EST
 
Email | Print | | Reprints | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

(Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SocGen) said this week a rogue trader built up illicit trades that cost it 4.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) to unwind.

But just how much is $7.2 billion? Here is how the sum shapes up against other financial indicators. It is:

* Greater than the individual GDP of 63 countries, according to 2006 World Bank data, including Chad, Mauritius, Armenia, Brunei, Namibia, Macedonia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Malta, West Bank and Gaza, Barbados, the Seychelles and Nicaragua.

* More than the market capitalization of French companies including advertising company Publicis, technology group Safran or the country's largest television broadcaster TF1.

With the money, SocGen could have bought:

* Four space shuttles, at NASA prices, with some cash left over for fuel.

* Two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers at French defense ministry budget listings or 10 of its high-tech FREMM frigates.

* 22 of the world's largest passenger airliner, the Airbus superjumbo A380, which has a list price of $320 million, or 25 Boeing 747s with a $286 million sticker.

* 106 high-tech French-made Rafale fighter planes.  Continued...

 

Featured Broker sponsored link

Editor's Choice

  • Pictures
  • Video
  • Articles
Photo

A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours.  View Slideshow 

Most Popular on Reuters

  • Articles
  • Video
  • Recommended

Reuters Oddly Enough

Funny, quirky, strange-but-true stories from around the world.