UBS orders $31 billion in Capcom stock, then cancels it, citing error

Here’s a ridiculous story for a Friday afternoon.

Swiss banking giant UBS placed a $31 billion, or 3 trillion yen, order for convertible bonds in the Japanese game publisher Capcom. The deal would have been the biggest ever on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, if only it were the real thing. Turns out, UBS apparently placed the order by accident, due to a computer system error. The real amount was supposed to be 31 million yen, or $314,000.

The Capcom folks seized upon this with glee, saying on the official blog, “The official Capcom happy-dance began when we heard that financial titan UBS AG placed an order for 3 TRILLION yen (that’s 31 billion bucks!) in Capcom stock yesterday. We were unfortunately forced to reveal that there, um, isn’t ¥3 trillion worth of Capcom stock for sale, so they revised their order to a measly ¥31 million.”

The funny thing is that Capcom is about to have a hell of a year. The company just launched Street Fighter IV and earned some glowing reviews, with the Metacritic (aggregate review score) coming in at 93 out of a hundred, which is pretty close to universal acclaim. And Capcom is about to launch Resident Evil 5, one of the most anticipated games of the year, on March 13. UBS apologized for the error.