Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) has reportedly recruited renowned attorney David Boies to help it pursue damages from CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) and Microsoft (MSFT) following a significant outage that resulted in millions of computer crashes and thousands of flight cancellations.
Shares of CrowdStrike fell nearly 5% in premarket trading Tuesday following a report about Delta's engagement of Boies, who is the chairman of Boies Schiller Flexner. Meanwhile, Microsoft's stock remained relatively unchanged.
The outage, which occurred on July 19, was triggered by a software update from CrowdStrike that caused a massive failure in Microsoft systems, affecting numerous industries. Airlines were particularly impacted, and the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced last week that it is investigating Delta due to widespread flight disruptions and service breakdowns.
In the two days following the incident, CrowdStrike saw its market value decrease by almost 25%, raising concerns about its business operations.
Although no lawsuit has been filed yet, Delta plans to seek compensation from both Microsoft and CrowdStrike, according to CNBC.
The outage has cost Delta an estimated $350 million to $500 million, and the airline is handling over 176,000 requests for refunds or reimbursements after nearly 7,000 flights were canceled.
Boies is renowned for representing the U.S. government in its landmark antitrust case against Microsoft. He has worked with Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced former Hollywood producer, and Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder who is currently serving a prison sentence for investor fraud.
Insurance startup Parametrix estimated that the incident involving CrowdStrike resulted in a total loss of $5.4 billion for Fortune 500 companies, excluding Microsoft.