Twitter isn’t about to be bought for $31 billion, even though a fake Bloomberg News story circulating is saying so.
The fake Bloomberg article “Twitter attracts suitors” is posted on the website Bloomberg.Market. It states: “(Bloomberg) — Twitter is working closely with bankers after receiving an offer to be bought out for $31 billion, people with knowledge of the situation said.”
The story says in part:
“Last month, upon announcement that chairman and co-founder Jack Dorsey would be appointed interim CEO while they searched for a new leader, Twitter stock rose 8%. It was a clear signal from Wall Street that it was happy the company decided to part ways with ex-CEO Richard “Dick” Costello. Under his leadership the company struggled to add new members and generate more revenue from it’s ad products.”
See the whole story below.
The fake Bloomberg article saying a sale of Twitter for $31 billion is about to happen.
Ty Trippet, Bloomberg’s spokesperson, tweeted to debunk the story.
Bloomberg also aired a video report saying the company was investigating.
Quartz characterized the fake website as “very realistic-looking” and noted the website was “registered five days ago, on July 9, by an anonymous person.”
On the other hand, Mashable pointed out reasons readers and traders should have been more skeptical. “The high bid sounded too good to be true, with Twitter’s current market cap below $25 billion. Adding to the red flags, the fake story misspelled former CEO Dick Costolo’s name as Costello. Both should have been a giveaway. Yet, fueled by an irresistible headline, the article spread on social media and amongst traders for several minutes, even fooling several business reporters from CNBC and Bloomberg itself.”
The phony story changed Twitter’s stock price, Re/code noted, with stock prices going up about 8 percent. “The stock dropped soon after but it’s still trading about 3 percent higher from yesterday’s close,” according to Re/code.
Forbes listed some advice for “How to Spot Fake [Mergers & Acquisitions] : The Twitter Edition.”