Apple’s Stock Drops $4B On False Story
05.18.07 - 10:40am
On Wednesday a story was posted by Engadget, often one of the first blogging news sources to “break a story”, that regarded an internal Apple memo. The story reported that a memo was sent out to hundreds of Apple employees stating the iPhone would be delayed until October and Leopard until January.
With the intense amount of hype built around the iPhone the news of a supposed delay
was enough to cause Apple’s stock to drop, losing an estimated $4 billion in just six minutes.
The story has since been proven to be false, with the initial e-mail labeled a spoof, and was quickly retracted by Apple with Engadget being notified. Apple’s stock has recovered and Engadget also reported a retraction, but in their defense said it was “an actual internal Apple e-mail that went out to thousands of Apple employees earlier today.”
Natalie Kerris, a spokesperson for Apple denied that it was an internal e-mail telling eWEEk that the e-mail “did not come from Apple.”
Whether or not there will be an investigation in the matter has not yet been decided. If there was intentional manipulation through falsifying a “memo” for the intentional manipulation of the stock price, a serious crime will have taken place. A spokesperson for the SEC, said he “could not confirm or deny” any action being taken by the SEC. Nevertheless you can be sure they are looking for the “source” of the memo.
While Engadget is not being held responsible over simply reporting what they thought was real and pertinent information based on a trusted source, many are still calling for more journalistic integrity amongst bloggers as the incident has shown just how powerful the internet media has become.
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