French Server Firm Loses $400 Million in Hours After Fraud Allegation

Grizzly Research published a report Monday alleging a fraudulent structure inside the U.S. operations of Parisian tech group Ateme, sending shares into a 40-percent freefall before markets closed.

Shares in Ateme SA fell more than 40 percent in a single session following the Grizzly Research short-seller report.
Grizzly Research alleged the company operates a 'fraudulent structure' through its U.S. subsidiary.
The selloff erased hundreds of millions of euros in market capitalization within hours of the report's publication.
Ateme had been valued above one billion dollars prior to Monday's trading session.
The company had not issued a public response to the allegations as of market close.

Shares in Ateme SA, the Paris-listed video compression and streaming technology group, collapsed more than 40 percent on Monday after short-seller Grizzly Research published a report alleging what it called a “fraudulent structure” inside the company’s U.S. operations.

The selloff began within the hour of publication and did not meaningfully recover before the close of trading. The company had entered the session with a market capitalization above one billion dollars. It did not finish there.

Grizzly Research, which publishes short-seller research and holds positions that benefit when target companies decline, did not specify the precise mechanism of the alleged fraud in its publicly available summary. The full report was distributed to subscribers.

Ateme, founded in 1991 and headquartered in the Paris suburb of Vélizy-Villacoublay, supplies video encoding hardware and software to broadcasters and streaming platforms. Its client list has historically included major European and North American media groups.

A company spokesperson had not responded to press inquiries as of market close Monday, according to MarketWatch reporting published the same day.

Grizzly Research has previously targeted companies including Nuvation Bio and Liqtech International. Its reports have produced mixed outcomes in follow-on regulatory action.

Ateme’s investor relations page, as of Monday evening, continued to list the company’s most recent earnings call as evidence of “continued operational momentum.”