IBM Stock Takes a Dive as Anthropic’s AI Tool Poses Threat to Legacy Business
IBM shares witnessed their most significant single-day nosedive in over a quarter-century on Monday, February 23, 2026. The shares plummeted by 13.2%, closing at $223.35 per share. This drastic drop was a result of AI startup Anthropic’s announcement that its Claude Code tool can expedite the modernization of COBOL systems, a fundamental aspect of IBM’s legacy business.
The revelation sent tremors through the market, erasing over $31 billion from IBM’s market value. Anthropic’s Claude Code pledges to automate the exploration and analysis phases that traditionally necessitated a large number of consultants spending years mapping workflows. “With AI, teams can modernize their COBOL codebase in quarters instead of years,” Anthropic mentioned in its blog post.
COBOL, a programming language birthed in the late 1950s, powers vital systems that handle an estimated 95% of ATM transactions in the United States. Every day, hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL code run in production across finance, airlines, and government sectors. IBM has long reigned over the mainframe market where COBOL is extensively used, making this AI disruption especially menacing to its consulting and modernization business.
The selloff also impacted other legacy IT consulting firms, including Accenture and Cognizant Technology Solutions. These firms heavily rely on COBOL modernization projects for revenue. With February losses now totaling 27%, IBM is set for its worst monthly performance since at least 1968.
Source: CNBC