New York (NY) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating fake story of Steve Jobs heart attack that emerged last week on CNN's iReport site where would-be journalists around the world can post their own stories, videos and images. The SEC believes that a larger plot could be behind a seemingly tasteless rumor plotted to drive the stock down and profit from Wall Street's reaction on the news and the subsequent denial by Apple officials.
As reported, an iReport post claimed that Steve Jobs was brought to a hospital after an alleged heart attack. "I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath," the poster wrote. The stock reacted almost immediately and sent the stock down about 10%, from $106.50 to a 17-month low of $94.65. It largely recovered when the company spokesman Steve Dowling denied the rumor later that day.
According to Bloomberg, the SEC is now looking a bit closer at what happened, including the intention of the post to drive the company's stock down. SEC officials apparently visited CNN last Friday, shortly after the incident took place. CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin confirmed the on-going government investigation, adding that CNN "makes no guarantee about the content or coverage" on the iReport site. Martin told Bloomberg that the news company removed the fraudulent content and disabled the user's account as soon as "the community brought it to our attention."
The latest incident showed once again that Steve Jobs is among Apple's most significant assets. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that Apple stock would drop about 25% should Steve Jobs leave for any reason, while Apple's market value would decrease by about $21 billion. An ongoing debate about Jobs' health coupled with Apple's insistence that the CEO's health is a "private matter" keeps investors and analysts on edge. Jobs, 54, a pancreatic cancer survivor, insists he is healthy. He recently blamed tremendous speculations about his health on "hedge funds with a big short position in Apple" during an off-hand comment to CNBC's Jim Goldman.
According to some reports, hedge funds deliberately push speculative reports about Jobs' health that create a panic and enable them to profit in the short term.
As reported, an iReport post claimed that Steve Jobs was brought to a hospital after an alleged heart attack. "I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath," the poster wrote. The stock reacted almost immediately and sent the stock down about 10%, from $106.50 to a 17-month low of $94.65. It largely recovered when the company spokesman Steve Dowling denied the rumor later that day.
According to Bloomberg, the SEC is now looking a bit closer at what happened, including the intention of the post to drive the company's stock down. SEC officials apparently visited CNN last Friday, shortly after the incident took place. CNN spokeswoman Jennifer Martin confirmed the on-going government investigation, adding that CNN "makes no guarantee about the content or coverage" on the iReport site. Martin told Bloomberg that the news company removed the fraudulent content and disabled the user's account as soon as "the community brought it to our attention."
The latest incident showed once again that Steve Jobs is among Apple's most significant assets. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated that Apple stock would drop about 25% should Steve Jobs leave for any reason, while Apple's market value would decrease by about $21 billion. An ongoing debate about Jobs' health coupled with Apple's insistence that the CEO's health is a "private matter" keeps investors and analysts on edge. Jobs, 54, a pancreatic cancer survivor, insists he is healthy. He recently blamed tremendous speculations about his health on "hedge funds with a big short position in Apple" during an off-hand comment to CNBC's Jim Goldman.
According to some reports, hedge funds deliberately push speculative reports about Jobs' health that create a panic and enable them to profit in the short term.