Was Claude the problem – C-level IBM executives sold millions of their own stock just days before Stock Apocalypse. What did they know?
Will Claude be able to Code in Cobol – update the worn out programming language – the problem lies in outdated infrastructure at most banks and the useless Subscription as a Service model that everyone hates. Below is the main story.
On Monday, February 23, 2026, IBM shares fell by as much as 13% (closing down roughly 10-13% depending on the exchange), marking its worst single-day drop in over two decades.The plunge was triggered by the startup Anthropic launching “Claude Code,” an AI tool designed to modernize COBOL—the legacy programming language used by most major banks and government agencies.
This directly threatens IBM’s lucrative consulting business, which relies on large human teams to maintain these aging systems.
Who Sold the Most?
While the exact identities of the sellers during the crash won’t be public until next quarter’s regulatory filings, the sell-off was driven by two main groups:
High-Frequency & Algorithmic Traders: Most of the immediate 10% drop was fueled by automated “sentiment” algorithms reacting to the Anthropic news and technical sell-stops.
Institutional Investors: Major holders like UBS Asset Management and JPMorgan Chase had already been trimming their positions in the months leading up to this event.
Insiders: IBM executives, including CEO Arvind Krishna and CFO James Kavanaugh, sold millions of dollars worth of shares earlier in February (around February 1st and 18th), just days before the crash.
Other Major Stock Plunges (Feb 23, 2026)IBM wasn’t the only casualty. The day was dubbed a “Software Apocalypse” as AI fears combined with a sudden 5% increase in global tariffs to hammer several major companies.
The newly risen zombies of the Software Apocolypse
NVO Novo Nordisk-15.0%
Obesity drug trial failed to beat Eli Lilly’s rival.
IBM IBM Corp.-13.0% Threat from Anthropic’s COBOL AI modernization tool.
CRWD CrowdStrike-10.1%Broader software sell-off and tariff concerns.
Wayfair-10.0%Impact of immediate 15% global tariffs on imports.
AXPAmerican Express-7.0% Fears of trade-related slowdown and spending drops.
CRM Salesforce-5.3% AI disruption fears affecting software-as-a-service.
The fear of AI is apparent but in almost all these cases the major sellers of the stock were within the companies or traders for the specific companies from automated buy/sell algorithms that function like a snitch following trends. They were not individual investors or investment firms per say.
Updates on this will follow.
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