Everyone needs an editor. Lyft just learned it the hard way

It’s a lesson Lyft executives learned the hard way when an earnings report contained an incorrect estimate, causing the stock to briefly surge before being corrected. Typos can have costly consequences. In 2020, Citibank mistakenly sent $900 million instead of a few million to a group of lenders, leading to litigation. Mizuho Securities also suffered a costly error in 2005. A missing hyphen caused NASA’s Mariner 1 craft to self-destruct shortly after liftoff in 1962. Spelling mistakes can be critical too. A hacker heist was prevented when the thieves misspelled “foundation.” A dairy delivery drivers’ settlement was secured in part due to a missing Oxford comma. Even a small omission of a word can have a big impact, as seen with Galena Biopharma’s misleading regulatory filing. Despite the earnings typo, Lyft shares rebounded and rose 30% due to strong earnings and positive future outlook.