Story: Business failures and corporate fraud

On 20 October 1987, which came to be known as ‘Black Tuesday’, the New Zealand share market fell precipitously. In four hours values shrank by $5.7 billion. In the chaos chalkies such as Claire Ruckman were exhausted. Seven times more chalk was used than normal. The collapse followed the speculative boom of the mid-1980s, and was triggered by falls in overseas share markets. Over the next few years a number of high-flying companies became insolvent.
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How to cite this page
Graeme Hunt, Business failures and corporate fraud – Failures since 1950, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/22344/share-market-crash (accessed 15 February 2026).
Story by Graeme Hunt, published 13 January 2010.