IBM is the latest AI casualty. Shares are tanking 11% on Anthropic programming language threat
#IBM stock decline #Anthropic Claude Code #COBOL programming #AI disruption #Business data processing #Legacy code modernization #Market volatility
📌 Key Takeaways
- IBM shares fell 11% after Anthropic announced COBOL capabilities for Claude Code
- COBOL handles 95% of U.S. ATM transactions and remains critical for business systems
- Anthropic's AI tool automates COBOL modernization, threatening IBM's core business
- IBM shares are down nearly 22% year to date amid broader AI disruption fears
📖 Full Retelling
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) shares plummeted 11% on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, on the New York Stock Exchange after Anthropic announced its Claude Code product can now automate COBOL modernization, threatening IBM's core business area in business data processing systems. COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), developed in the 1950s, remains widely used in business data processing and handles an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the U.S., with hundreds of billions of lines running in production daily across finance, airlines, and government systems. This legacy language has presented a significant challenge for modernization due to a shrinking pool of qualified programmers and the high costs associated with understanding and rewriting the code. Anthropic highlighted in a Monday blog post that its Claude Code can help modernize COBOL codebases by mapping dependencies across thousands of lines of code, documenting workflows, and identifying risks that would take human analysts months to surface. The company noted that AI technology has 'flipped the equation' for legacy code modernization, making it more cost-effective to use AI tools rather than rewriting the code entirely. This development comes amid broader market concerns about AI disruption, with cybersecurity stocks also falling last week after Anthropic unveiled Claude Code Security, a feature capable of scanning codebases for security vulnerabilities. IBM's stock decline reflects growing investor anxiety about AI technology disrupting established businesses, contributing to a volatile trading environment where stocks are falling on AI-related news before full impacts are understood.
🏷️ Themes
AI disruption, Legacy systems modernization, Market volatility
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Original Source
In this article IBM Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT International Business Machines Corp. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images International Business Machines stock is getting slammed, becoming the latest victim of rapidly developing AI technology, after Anthropic's Claude announced COBOL capabilities. Shares of IBM fell 11% in Monday afternoon trading after Anthropic outlined a new use case for its Claude Code product: automating the exploration and analysis work that drives most of the complexity in COBOL modernization. COBOL is a programming language used widely in business data processing, which is a core business area for IBM. COBOL, short for Common Business-Oriented Language, was developed in the 1950s and continues to powers systems responsible for large volumes of transactions, including payment processing and retail transaction systems. In a Monday blog post, Anthropic wrote that COBOL handles an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the U.S. "Hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL run in production every day, powering critical systems in finance, airlines, and government. Despite that, the number of people who understand it shrinks every year," the Anthropic blog post reads. "Legacy code modernization stalled for years because understanding legacy code cost more than rewriting it. AI flips that equation," the post continued. It then explained that Claude Code can help modernize COBOL codebases by mapping dependencies across thousands of lines of code, documenting workflows and identifying risks that "would take human analysts months to surface." IBM is the latest stock to fall on AI fears, which have rattled investors in recent weeks and contributed to a volatile "sell first and ask questions later" trading environment. On Friday, a slew of cybersecurity companies tumbled after Anthropic unveiled a new capability it built into Claude Code, call...
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