american and its parent, a.m.r., also replaced its chief executive in the move, naming thomas horton as the new c.e.o. >> tom: shares of american's parent company, a.m.r., got slammed today, down 84%. here's a chart of the stock over the past 90-trading sessions. you can see a big drop in early october when bankruptcy rumors first scared investors. as suzanne pratt reports, the airline has high hopes for what it will achieve from going bankrupt. >> reporter: american airlines has finally hit a patch of turbulence too large to avoid. the rough air was brought on by the carrier's sky high labor costs in the face of rising fuel prices and limited travel demand. new c.e.o. thomas horton said at a news conference today bankruptcy should give american a chance to cut expenses. >> i think it's the right decision at the right time to move our company forward. i think, as many of you know, the last decade has been extraordinarily hard for the airline industry. >> reporter: so hard that all of the industry's major carriers have already been in bankruptcy; some have even merged. but at la guard

thomas horton is american's new c.e.o. >> our cost disadvantage to the rest of the city has been quite large and has been growing. we viewed that and our board viewed that as untenable. >> reporter: during the last two years, american was losing money while the rest of the industry was profitable. soaring fuel prices have also battered americans' bottom line. the airline has older, less fuel efficient jets. in july, american ordered 460 new planes-- the largest order in industry history. darryl jenkins, an industry analyst, heads the american aviation institute. >> their debt will be pushed down, their operating costs will be pushed down. so when they emerge, they'll be making money again. >> reporter: scott, american still has $4 billion in cash on hand, so the airline can pay its bills and, again, for the short term, at least, passengers should see no disruption in service. but down the road american's new c.e.o. said today that unprofitable routes could be dropped. >> pelley: mark, thank you very much. we were digging into this story today and our research people came up with an ama

. >> american also announced the new ceo promoting company president thomas horton to the top spot. >>> good news for online shoppers some retailers are extending their cyber monday sales. amazon.com and wal-mart are among those promoting cyber week online specials. one tracking service saying online shopping was up 43% over last year cyber monday. a clearer picture will emerge on thursday when figures are released. >>> more than $300 million rs that's how much maryland taxpayers have contributed to state university. it's an investment to help graduation rates which ge explains are among the lowest in the state. >> reporter: with 3800 students, they're growing. >> reporter: peter toured the facility examining how the more than $300 million was spent. >> receive the type of economic stress people are under. this institution is going to lead the way back to a great recovery. >> including the school's recovery low graduation rate 15% compare today the university of maryland at 82%. students say some of their peers can't. >> a lot of people think obstacles besides schools, so it's just --

but this man, his successor, thomas horton, says the company's financial position was basically untenable. >> virtually all of our big competitors in the u.s. took this step. and as a consequence, they lowered their costs and improved their capital structure in a way that simply made them much more competitive. and, you know, the folks at american have worked very hard and honorably to avoid that path over the last decade. but it became clear to us that that gap was just too wide now. >> that is not saying that you have to prepare markets for bad news. and quite obviously, amr didn't take a look at the stock price. it's taken a pasting on the news, down 81% on tuesday. it had already lost almost 80% of its value since the start of january. and that means all together, it's down 96.7% this year. if you take a look at the past decade, you can see back in 2007, amr stock was trading slightly north of $40 a share. now 33 cents a share. nina. >> it's a surprising move, isn't it? just like bank of america, down to its lows since 2009. >>> still to come on "world business today," we hear from th

richard, how did thomas horton come to this decision? why do this and why doing it now? >> they're doing it for one simple reason. the american airlines cost base is considerably higher than united, continental's and delta which merged with northwest. those other airlines did go through chapter 11 during the recessions and managed to slash their costs. so, now, american has been struggling for the last few years, trying to get negotiations, trying to get agreements and trying to get its costs down, but, frankly, and finally, with oil prices high, with growth slowing down and with so many other competitive disadvantages. tom horton told me a short while ago, they really had had no choice. it was time to push the nuclear button. >> the folks at american have worked very hard and honorably to avoid that path over the last decade. but it became clearer to us that that gap was just too wide now and it had become untenable and it was time for us to address it and turn the page and put our company on the path to a much more successful future. >> ted, no doubt it is a dramatic d

he'll be replaced by the company president thomas horton.can's parent company tumbled 33% late yesterday as investors predicted this could happen. bankruptcy blamed on the slow economy and reduced demand for seats. american airlines, the fourth largest airline in the world has promised that all flights will go on as scheduled. frequent flier miles will also be continued to be honored for the time being. >> not surprisingly, actually. because american airlines, the flight attendants. i've never seen this happen ever before. when i was on flight, they came on board and told me some things you've never heard from the flight attendants before. >> about what? >> about why flights were delayed. police are calling ex-fiance of the florida mom a prime suspect in her disappearance. a reporter joins us live from orlando with all the details. this is big news. for some time, she's been missing for more than a week. they were not naming him as a suspect, right? >> that's exactly right. michelle parker has been missing for 12 days now. she went -- she di