Tiger Woods 'costs sponsors $12bn'

Published Dec 29 2009, 23:24 GMT  |  By Catriona Wightman

Tiger Woods's sponsors have reportedly lost up to $12bn (£7.5bn).

According to E! News, economics professors at the University of California have examined stock market returns for Woods's sponsors in the days following his car crash.

The study took in 13 trading days and finished a week after Woods announced that he will take an "indefinite" break from golf.

The professors found that Gatorade, EA Sports and Nike, which has publicly expressed its support for the sportsman, were some of the worst-hit companies, losing a total of $6bn (£3.7bn).

However, Accenture, which decided to end its relationship with Woods, did not appear to suffer.