Today marks four months since commodities broker MF Global (OTC: MFGLQ) filed for bankruptcy in the wake of credit rating downgrades and loss of investor confidence due to the firm's massive exposure to European sovereign debt. The Motley Fool covered the story with an award-winning series of articles, The Astonishing Collapse of MF Global. If you haven't read the series, the 30 numbers below sum up one of the most extraordinary episodes in the history of the financial markets:
$141.5 million: Losses experienced by MF Global in February 2008 as a result of a rogue wheat trader's actions.
1.5 years: Tenure as CEO of Bernard Dan, Jon Corzine's predecessor at MF Global.
10.4%: MF Global's one-day share price gain on the news of Jon Corzine's appointment.
1 percentage point: Interest rate "kicker" MF Global promised investors in August 2011 on a $300 million bond issue should Jon Corzine leave the company "due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States."
10: Number of years since Jon Corzine had last worked in the financial markets when he accepted the CEO position at MF Global.
$2 per share: MF Global's cumulative losses during Jon Corzine's tenure.
$7.28 per share: MF Global's average share price between the announcement of his appointment and the firm's bankruptcy filing.
25: Number of years since Jon Corzine had had day-to-day trading responsibilities when he began putting on a proprietary position in European sovereign repo-to-maturity (RTM) transactions.
6 or fewer: Number of months before Jon Corzine's European sovereign repo trade size exceeded $1 billion.
$6.3 billion: Net size of the European sovereign RTM position at the time of MF Global's last quarterly earnings presentation.
$1.2 billion: MF Global shareholders' equity at the end of its last full quarter.
30-to-1: MF Global's leverage factor at the end of its last full quarter prior to the bankruptcy.
Baa with negative outlook: MF Global's credit rating category and rating outlook from the time of John Corzine's appointment until Moody's downgraded the firm, seven days prior to its bankruptcy. (A negative outlook "indicates the likely direction of an issuer's next rating change in the medium term.")
Ba: Obligations in this rating category "are judged to have speculative elements and are subject to substantial credit risk" ("junk" status).
15%: The proportion of U.S. banks and securities firms that were rated lower than MF Global.
48%: MF Global's stock price decline on Oct. 25, the day it announces its financial results for the quarter ended Sept. 30.
$310 million: Total margin calls MF Global received on Oct. 28, its last day of operations. (Margin calls are requests for additional funds or collateral from counterparties and/or exchanges in the face of increasing losses on a position.)
$198 million: MF Global's market value on Oct. 28, its last day of operations.
587: Number of days Jon Corzine had been CEO on the day of MF Global's bankruptcy filing.
Less than 1 year: Former Chief Financial Officer Henri Steenkamp's total experience as a CFO (of any company) at the time of MF Global's bankruptcy.
35: Henri Steenkamp's age at the time of MF Global's bankruptcy.
At least 70: Total number of years of financial services experience represented on MF Global's Board of Directors.
30 days: Time frame of a contingency plan drawn up by MF Global management to respond to a hypothetical credit rating downgrade to BB+ or below. (BB+ is the highest speculative grade ["junk"] rating.)
5: Number of days MF Global survived once S&P downgraded MF Global to BBB-. (BBB-, being the lowest investment-grade rating, is higher than BB+).
2,870: Total number of MF Global employees at the time of the firm's bankruptcy.
250: Number of employees still employed by the company to assist in the bankruptcy process in London and Chicago.
60%: Proportion of MF Global's revenues paid out to its employees at the time Jon Corzine joined the firm.
62%: Proportion of MF Global's revenues paid out to its employees during its last quarter of operations.
88 cents on the dollar: The top of the price range being paid for claims belonging to MF Global's U.S. customers.
70-77 cents on the dollar: Price at which some of MF Global's U.K. customers' claims have changed hands.
$1.6 billion: Shortfall in MF Global commodities customers' funds as a result of the bankruptcy.
$700 million: Customer funds that remain trapped in the U.K. (MF Global UK is undergoing a separate administration process under the aegis of accountants KPMG.)
