On March 20, 2024, before the market opened, Hindenburg Research released a report entitled “Equinix Exposed: Major Accounting Manipulation, Core Business Decay And Selling an AI Pipe Dream As Insiders Cashed Out Hundreds of Millions.” In part, Hindenburg stated its “investigation, which included a review of financial and litigation records and interviews with 37 former Equinix employees, industry experts and competitors, revealed that Equinix manipulates its accounting for AFFO (“adjusted funds from operations”), the key profitability metric for REITs [“(Real Estate Investment Trust”)]. We estimate this metric was overstated by at least 22% in 2023 alone.”

On this news, Equinix’s stock fell $19.70 per share, or 2.3%, to close at $824.88 per share on March 20, 2024.

Then, on March 25, 2024, Equinix filed an 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which contained a press release in which Equinix announced that the Audit Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors had commenced an independent investigation to review the matters referenced in the Hindenburg report. Equinix also announced that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California shortly after the release of the Hindenburg report.

On this news, Equinix’s stock fell $8.45 per share, or 1.1%, to close at $792.52 per share on March 25, 2024.