Chemours sinks in record selloff after suspending top execs amid accounting probe

Chemours (NYSE:CC) on Thursday suffered its biggest one-day selloff since it was spun off from Dupont de Nemours in July 2015, -31.4% to its lowest close since September 2020, whacked by accounting issues disclosed two weeks ago that have become much worse than anticipated.

The chemical company said last night it is putting its CEO and CFO on leave and delaying its audited financial filings as it conducts an internal investigation into its bookkeeping, compensation and ethics hotline reports.

Chemours (CC) said the review, led by its audit committee, into “one or more potential material weaknesses” in controls over financial reporting also is taking into account “the ‘tone at the top’ set by certain members of senior management.”

The typical underlying issues when companies disclose internal reviews are related to financial reporting processes, but Chemours’ (CC) problems seems “broader and deeper than that,” RBC Capital’s Arun Viswanathan said.

“What many perceived as likely a relatively minor accounting hangup two weeks ago now appears wider, longer, and with more ramifications than the market initially believed,” according to Barclays analyst Michael Leithead.

Almost lost in the quagmire of bad news: The company also estimated a FY 2023 net loss in the $225M-$235M range, swinging from a net profit of $578M for 2022.