Stocks punished on probes

Tuesday, March 12, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

WorldCom Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. said Monday that they had received inquiries from the Securities and Exchange Commission about various accounting and financial disclosure controversies.

WorldCom Inc., the second-biggest U.S. long distance phone company, saw its shares fall as much as 19 percent this morning on the news. The shares fell $1.06 to $7.95 in late morning trading after declining to $7.29. They had already fallen 36 percent this year.

Qwest, a regional phone company based in Denver, saw its stock fell 25 cents or 2.6 percent Monday. It was down another 45 cents or 4.8 percent this morning.

The SEC requested documents related to 24 issues at WorldCom, including merger accounting and loans to its chief executive.

The Qwest inquiry covered issues already raised by investors who have sued Qwest, claiming it inflated earnings with various accounting tricks.

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