“The story, marked ‘Hold for release – Do not use’, was sent in error to the news service’s thousands of corporate clients,” Matthew Moore reports for The Telegraph. “The stock obituary was published ‘momentarily’ after a routine update by a reporter, and was ‘immediately deleted’, Bloomberg said.”
“Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, but there is no suggestion that the news wire has recent news on his health,” Moore reports. “Most media organizations regularly update their pre-prepared obituaries of newsworthy figures. The obituary contained blank spaces for Jobs’s age and cause of death to be inserted.”
Read the full article here.
Caroline McCarthy reports for CNET, “It’s not out of the ordinary at all that Bloomberg would have this written; all major news outlets have notable persons’ obituaries prepared in advance so that only minor changes need be made at the actual time of death. That way, the news can be reported almost immediately and can be updated with further detail.
But a Jobs obituary, however premature, is more chilling than, say, a Bill Gates obituary.”
“So given a CEO whose health has been discussed so speculatively in the echo chamber of the blogosphere, and whose company’s stock has been shown to be far from immune to the influence of the rumor mill, the appearance–however brief–of a Jobs obituary online must certainly have been disquieting for those who stumbled upon it,” McCarthy reports.
McCarthy reports, “Bloomberg released a retraction later on Wednesday that made only the vaguest of reference to the content of the gaffe. ‘An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today,’ the retraction read. ‘The item was never meant for publication and has been retracted.'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Vague Nomenclature” and “Adam W.” for the heads up.]
Once upon a time, they said Apple was “dead,” too.
Um, hello, SEC? We have a few questions:
• How does a text update get “mistakenly” posted live online at Bloomberg, exactly?
• Did anyone profit from this “mistake?”
• If so, are they connected in any way to those who “mistakenly” posted this story at Bloomberg?
This is more than “carelessness” or “mistakenly”
Apple has a clear lawsuit on their hands if they wish to pursue it. I doubt they will because the stock didn’t tank, but the targets against them are getting more and more obvious.
Folks, prepare yourself for persecution as Apple grows and grows. This is the tip of the iceberg.
@Andy: “This is callous in the extreme. Talk about supreme bad taste… (And the fact they were ‘preparing’ the obituary is plain sick in itself I find, personally.)”
Understandable, but, just as McCarthy stated, every major news service has many pre-obituaries in the can. This is not at all about Steve’s recent health concerns.
In fact, that may be a good marker for having “made it”! Reuters, CNN, and others have your obituary already in the can, only requiring the addition of a few grisly details regarding your demise: your accumulated wealth at that time, where excactly your yacht was located, and the age of the young nubile who found you…
Stop F’n with my stock prices you bastages!
Hey Bloomie: I’m still alive!
There are some scared stiff PC addicts who cannot stand to slide down the drain with Macro$ucks and will do anything to keep pretending their computing world is superior and their platform will win. Chop off the competition’s head, declare him dead, try to tank the stocks, get the investors nervous, anything to divert attention from the fact that Apple is better.
incredible mistake.
sorry, i absolutely don’t believe that the “post” button is next to the “save” button.
but sadly, it’s possible, very bad UI !
some people should not be allowed to use computers.
You go to the doctor, pay your co-pay, then weeks later you get a bill from the doctor. A small percentage of people call about it and get a “OH, I’m sorry, we made a mistake, and apologetically tell you it was a billing error on their part and tell you to tear it up and forget it.
Meanwhile, the larger percentage of people, especially old folks, just pay the bill yet again.
Happens all the time. It is a money making scam.
It’s the same with Bloomberg. “We made a mistake”, yet the damage is already done. Bad press is still good press.
This just shows how far journalism has to go to be really bad. Now when they start preparing obituaries for people who are not even born yet you’ll know they have reached a new level.
That reminds me, does Steve Jobs have any kids?
This kind of thing happens often. We just like Steve so it seems worse than normal.
I was so freaked out. After they got my wrists all bandaged up and told me it was a mistake I felt better but Bloomberg must pay.
@Martin:
It’s because it wasn’t made on a Mac.
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“That reminds me, does Steve Jobs have any kids?”
He will one day be survived by children Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Eve, Erin Sienna and Reed Paul.
Here’s a screen shot of the obituary if anyone wants to read it.
I bet Ballmer went into his monkey dance when he read the obit. Of course, the retraction was closely followed by flying chairs in Redmond.
As if we needed another proof that journalists are Scum.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=30356807&id=30356816&s=143441
I’m sure mistakes like this happen from time to tim- but this seems much too convenient to be a mistake, given the press coverage of Steve’s ‘dire’ health last month.
I daresay this act by the Bloomberg mag was as vindictive as they come. It’s openly wishing someone was dead to generate interest in a stupid magazine.
If I were Steve I’d go down to the Bloomberg offices with my iBaseball bat…
“Am I ALIVE enough for ya!?” *WHACK!* *CRACK!* *POW!* (etc)
More stock manipulation.
“Buy! Buy!”
“Sell! Sell!”
– heard coming from Bloombird editor’s offices today…
Thanks Ampar, that’s good to hear. Hopefully some of the magic will rub off.
You said it man. Same here.
Most of these jokers in the Valley are just there because of luck.
Go read FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS (Taleb).
Well that proves it folks, publish Jobs’ obit and the stock only goes down 95 cents. Withdraw the publication and the stock only goes down 95 cents. The Dow goes up 200 points and the stock goes down 95 cents. The Democrats nominate Obama and the stock goes down 95 cents. Dell goes down, analysts raise AAPL expectations and the stock goes down 95 cents. Makes no difference. AAPL gets a sucker punch every day to teach us all humility.
“Well that proves it folks, publish Jobs’ obit and the stock only goes down 95 cents.”
Sure, if you retract it 30 seconds later.
T”his is more than “carelessness” or “mistakenly””
If this was intentional manipulation not a wrong button press, then 1) The info would have been filled in correctly to make it look real 2) it would have been left up longer to give the stock time to plunge.
So you can take your tinfoil hats off now.
Did anyone read it?
It SUCKS!! Reads like it was written by a junior staffer on the school paper.
“Reads like it was written by a junior staffer on the school paper.”
I resent that.
“Reads like it was written by a junior staffer on the school paper.”
Most Mac fanboys are in high school, it’s just written to their reading and comprehension level.