Tiger Wood's problems reduced the value of companies he sponsors 2.3%

Two professors at UC Davis, a school that prides itself on unusual market analyses, have determined that shareholders of Nike, Gatorade and other Tiger Woods sponsors lost a collective $5 to $12 billion in the wake of the scandal involving his extramarital affairs.

Victor Stango and Chris Knittel, professors of economics at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, looked at stock market returns for the 13 trading days that fell between Nov. 27, the date of the car crash that ignited the Woods' scandal, and Dec. 17, a week after he announced his indefinite leave from the sport. The economists compared returns for Woods' sponsors during this period to those of both the total stock market and of each sponsor's closest competitor, and factored in historical market correlations for Accenture; AT&;T; Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf (Electronic Arts); Gillette (Proctor and Gamble); Nike; Gatorade (PepsiCo); TLC Laser Eye Centers; and Golf Digest (Conde Nast).

Knittel and Stango conclude that the scandal reduced shareholder value in the sponsor companies by 2.3 percent, or about $12 billion.

Wow.  We all paid for Tiger’s driving (and other) problems.