Logitech Shares Tumble After Controller Used to Pilot Doomed Titan Sub

The U.S. share price of Logitech International SA fell by 3.6 percent between the high point on Tuesday, and the low point on Wednesday, after a journalist claimed the Titan submersible which went missing while diving to the Titanic had been controlled by a Logitech gamepad.

At a press conference on Thursday, the American Coast Guard said all five passengers onboard the OceanGate craft Titan had been killed, following what they described as a "catastrophic implosion" after the submersible began its descent on Sunday.

Those killed were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush; French pilot Paul-Henry Nargeolet; British adventurer Hamish Harding; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood; and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood. Previous OceanGate passengers reported having to sign legal death waivers before beginning their trips, though one legal expert told Newsweek these are likely to be "hotly contested" if the family of the deceased sues the company.

In 2022, CBS News correspondent David Pogue took a trip on the Titan, during which he held up a games controller, later identified as a Logitech G F710, and said: "We run the whole thing with this game controller."

On Monday Pogue reshared video from the trip, resulting in the Logitech games controller claim being widely shared across the media on Tuesday.

The price of a Logitech International SA share was $56.20 at 2:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, after which it fell 3.6 percent to $54.20 at 11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

Market Watch, a website that covers stock market news, linked the fall in Logitech's share price directly with "reports that one of the company's gamepads was being used to steer the submersible that went missing while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic."

Logitech has since regained most of its lost value, with each share worth $55.62 as of 10:22 a.m. ET on Friday morning.

Newsweek has contacted the Logitech International SA press office for contact by email.

OceanGate confirmed all five Titan passengers had been killed in a statement on Friday, commenting: "We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans. Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

James Cameron, director of the 1997 Oscar-winning movie Titanic, discussed the tragedy during an interview with CNN.

He commented: "The collective 'we' didn't remember the lesson of Titanic.

"These guys at OceanGate didn't. Because the arrogance and the hubris that sent that ship to its doom is exactly the same thing that sent those people in that sub to their fate.

"I think it's heartbreaking that it was so preventable."